Birthday poem · March 12Awakening of Insects, the 3rd solar term: the first thunder; insects stir.
Birth character
紅 hóng · red
紅 combines 糸 "silk" with 工 as a sound element; it first meant pink silk, then red.
霜葉紅於二月花
“Frost-bitten leaves look redder than early spring flowers.” — Du Mu, ‘Mountain Walk’
The poem
“Peach Blossoms at Qingquan Hermitage” 慶全庵桃花
- 尋得桃源好避秦I found a Peach Blossom Spring, a good place to hide from the world;
- 桃紅又見一年春the peach blossoms are red again — another year's spring.
- 花飛莫遣隨流水Petals, don't drift away on the flowing water,
- 怕有漁郎來問津or some fisherman may come asking the way.
Why this poem
Xie Fangde on living in hiding, worried peach petals floating out will lead people in.
This day in the Chinese calendar
Solar term: Awakening of Insects.