Birthday poem · July 16Minor Heat, the 11th solar term: the heat begins.
Birth character
光 guāng · light
In its oldest form, 光 shows fire above a kneeling person; it means light.
床前明月光
“Before my bed a pool of light” — Li Bai, ‘Quiet Night Thoughts’
The poem
“Leaving Jingci Temple at Dawn” 曉出淨慈寺送林子方
- 畢竟西湖六月中After all, West Lake in the sixth month
- 風光不與四時同has scenery unlike any other season's.
- 接天蓮葉無窮碧Lotus leaves touch the sky in endless green;
- 映日荷花別樣紅lotus flowers in the sun glow a different red.
Why this poem
Yang Wanli on the lotus of West Lake in the sixth month, at the height of summer.
This day in the Chinese calendar
Solar term: Minor Heat.