Birthday poem · October 3Autumn Equinox, the 16th solar term: day and night are equal again.
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: July 2
The poem
“Little Pine” 小松
- 自小刺頭深草裏From small, a prickly head deep in the grass,
- 而今漸覺出蓬蒿now it is slowly rising above the weeds.
- 時人不識凌雲木People don't recognise a tree that will touch the clouds —
- 直待凌雲始道高not until it touches the clouds do they call it tall.
Why this poem
Du Xunhe on a young pine: no one can see a giant in a sapling.
This day in the Chinese calendar
Solar term: Autumn Equinox.