Birthday poem · February 17Start of Spring, the 1st solar term: spring begins in the traditional calendar.

Birthday poem card for February 17: “Early Spring Excursion” by Du Shenyan. Birth character 雲, cloud.

Birth character

雲 yún · cloud

雲 means cloud; the older form 云 shows swirling vapour.

白雲生處有人家
“Where rise white clouds, there appear cottages and bowers.” — Du Mu, ‘Mountain Walk’

The poem

“Early Spring Excursion” 和晋陵陸丞早春遊望

  1. 雲霞出海曙Clouds and dawn colours come out of the sea;
  2. 梅柳渡江春plum and willow cross the river, and it's spring.

Du Shenyan 杜審言 · Tang dynasty · c. 645–708 · five-character verse · excerpt

English translation by Poetune.

Why this poem

Du Shenyan on early spring south of the Yangtze: plum and willow cross the river.

This day in the Chinese calendar

Solar term: Start of Spring.

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