Birthday poem · October 12Cold Dew, the 17th solar term: temperatures drop and the dew turns cold.

Birthday poem card for October 12: “Evening Song by the River” by Bai Juyi. Birth character 珠, pearl.

Birth character

珠 zhū · pearl

珠 combines 玉 "jade" with 朱 as a sound element; it means pearl.

白雨跳珠亂入船
“White rain leaps like pearls, bouncing into the boat.” — Su Shi, ‘Drunk at Lake View Tower’

Other dates with this poem: August 9

The poem

“Evening Song by the River” 暮江吟

  1. 一道殘陽鋪水中One streak of setting sun spreads across the water:
  2. 半江瑟瑟半江紅half the river jade-green, half the river red.
  3. 可憐九月初三夜How lovely, this night, the third of the ninth month —
  4. 露似眞珠月似弓dew like true pearls, the moon like a bow.

Bai Juyi 白居易 · Tang dynasty · 772–846 · seven-character verse

English translation by Poetune.

Why this poem

Sunset on the river, a new moon and dew on the third night of the ninth month.

This day in the Chinese calendar

Solar term: Cold Dew.

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.