Birthday poem · November 6Frost’s Descent, the 18th solar term: the first frosts.

Birthday poem card for November 6: “Reeds” by Book of Songs (anonymous). Birth character 霜, frost.

Birth character

霜 shuāng · frost

霜 combines 雨 "rain" with 相 as a sound element; it means frost.

霜葉紅於二月花
“Frost-bitten leaves look redder than early spring flowers.” — Du Mu, ‘Mountain Walk’

Other dates with this poem: September 7

The poem

“Reeds” 蒹葭

  1. 蒹葭蒼蒼Reeds and rushes, green, green;
  2. 白露爲霜the white dew has turned to frost.
  3. 所謂伊人The one I'm thinking of
  4. 在水一方is somewhere across the water.

Book of Songs (anonymous) 詩經 · Zhou dynasty · four-character verse · excerpt

English translation by Poetune.

Why this poem

The Book of Songs: "white dew turns to frost", longing for someone across the water in autumn.

This day in the Chinese calendar

Solar term: Frost’s Descent.

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