Birthday poem · April 4Qingming, the Clear and Bright festival, in the Clear and Bright period.

Birthday poem card for April 4: “Qingming on Su Causeway” by Wu Weixin. Birth character 清, clear, pure.

Birth character

清 qīng · clear, pure

清 combines 水 "water" with 青 as a sound element; it means clear water, or pure.

問渠那得清如許
“I ask how it can stay so clear and clean” — Zhu Xi, ‘Thoughts on Reading’

The poem

“Qingming on Su Causeway” 蘇堤清明卽事

  1. 梨花風起正清明The pear-blossom wind rises — it's Qingming;
  2. 遊子尋春半出城half the townsfolk have gone out seeking spring.
  3. 日暮笙歌收拾去At dusk the music and songs are packed away;
  4. 萬株楊柳屬流鶯ten thousand willows now belong to the orioles.

Wu Weixin 吳惟信 · Southern Song dynasty · fl. 13th c. · seven-character verse

English translation by Poetune.

Why this poem

Wu Weixin on crowds on the Su Causeway at West Lake at Qingming.

This day in the Chinese calendar

Solar term: Clear and Bright. Near Qingming, the Clear and Bright festival.

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