Birthday poem · August 18Start of Autumn, the 13th solar term: autumn begins in the traditional calendar.
Birth character
蓮 lián · lotus
蓮 combines 艸 "plant" with 連 as a sound element; it means lotus.
接天蓮葉無窮碧
“Lotus leaves touch the sky in endless green” — Yang Wanli, ‘Leaving Jingci Temple at Dawn’
Other dates with this poem: June 19
The poem
“Song of the Yue Girl” 越女詞
- 耶溪採蓮女A lotus-picking girl on Ruoye Stream
- 見客棹歌迴sees a stranger and turns her boat, singing.
- 笑入荷花去Laughing, she slips in among the lotus flowers,
- 佯羞不出來and, pretending to be shy, won't come out.
Why this poem
Li Bai on a lotus picker who sees a stranger and hides among the lotus.
This day in the Chinese calendar
Solar term: Start of Autumn.