Birthday poem · May 21Grain Buds, the 8th solar term: wheat and barley begin to fill.

Birthday poem card for May 21: “West River Moon” by Xin Qiji. Birth character 聲, voice.

Birth character

聲 shēng · voice

聲 means sound or voice, and also reputation.

夜來風雨聲
“After one night of wind and showers” — Meng Haoran, ‘Spring Dawn’

Other dates with this poem: August 16

The poem

“West River Moon” 西江月

  1. 明月別枝驚鵲The bright moon on a slanting branch startles the magpie;
  2. 清風半夜鳴蝉a clear breeze at midnight, the cicadas sing.
  3. 稻花香裏說豐年Amid the scent of rice flowers, talk of a bumper year;
  4. 聽取蛙聲一片listen — a whole chorus of frogs.

Xin Qiji 辛棄疾 · Southern Song dynasty · 1140–1207 · ci (song lyric) · excerpt

English translation by Poetune.

Why this poem

Xin Qiji walks by rice fields on a summer night and hears frogs promise a good harvest.

This day in the Chinese calendar

Solar term: Grain Buds.

Make a card for someone

Add a name and a short message to this card

Your text is turned into an image on this screen only. Nothing is sent anywhere.