Birthday poem · December 30Winter Solstice, the 22nd solar term: the longest night of the year.

Birthday poem card for December 30: “Snow and Plum II” by Lu Meipo. Birth character 詩, poem.

Birth character

詩 shī · poem

詩 combines 言 "speech" with 寺 as a sound element; it means poem.

便引詩情到碧霄
“It leads the poet's lofty mind to azure sky.” — Liu Yuxi, ‘Autumn Song’

The poem

“Snow and Plum II” 雪梅 其二

  1. 有梅無雪不精神Plum without snow has no spirit;
  2. 有雪無詩俗了人snow without a poem makes one dull.
  3. 日暮詩成天又雪At dusk the poem is done and it snows again —
  4. 與梅併作十分春with the plum, they make a perfect spring.

Lu Meipo 盧梅坡 · Southern Song dynasty · fl. 13th c. · seven-character verse

English translation by Poetune.

Why this poem

Lu Meipo: plum blossom, snow and a poem together make a full spring.

This day in the Chinese calendar

Solar term: Winter Solstice.

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