Birthday poem · August 13Start of Autumn, the 13th solar term: autumn begins in the traditional calendar.
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’
Other dates with this poem: June 1
The poem
“River Village” 江村
- 清江一曲抱村流A bend of the clear river hugs the village as it flows;
- 長夏江村事事幽in the long summer, everything in the river village is quiet.
- 自去自來堂上燕The swallows on the beams come and go as they please;
- 相親相近水中鷗the gulls on the water stay close and friendly.
Why this poem
Du Fu on a river village in summer: swallows come and go, gulls stay close.
This day in the Chinese calendar
Solar term: Start of Autumn.