Birthday poem · November 4Frost’s Descent, the 18th solar term: the first frosts.
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’
Other dates with this poem: September 1
The poem
“Sitting Alone Facing Jingting Mountain” 獨坐敬亭山
- 衆鳥高飛盡zhòng niǎo gāo fēi jìnAll birds have flown away, so high;
- 孤雲獨去閒gū yún dú qù xiánA lonely cloud drifts on, so free.
- 相看兩不厭xiāng kàn liǎng bù yànWe are not tired, the Peak and I,
- 只有敬亭山zhǐ yǒu jìng tíng shānNor I of him, nor he of me.
Why this poem
Li Bai alone on Jingting Mountain: the birds and cloud are gone, only the mountain and he remain.
This day in the Chinese calendar
Solar term: Frost’s Descent.