Gone with the snow
The days of sorrow
Before you know, the weather has turned warm
Lining my pathway with willows
And plums blooming on one side alone
I can’t help but begin to sing
You say my song and the wine are perfectly in sync!
Don’t know what it really means
But the mountains must know
Some songs are meant to be sung
~ Translated by Dot, from Tao Yuanming’s “La Ri,” a poem about the traditional Chinese holiday La Ba, written in the Six Dynasties period
风雪送余运，无妨时已和。
梅柳夹门植，一条有佳花。
我唱尔言得，酒中适何多！
未能明多少，章山有奇歌。
~ 陶淵明 (東晉末至南北朝) 《蜡日》(亦即蜡八，指年終蜡祭八神之日)
Tao Yuanming, born in 365 AD and died in 427 AD, is a major figure in China’s long history of poetry. Being disappointed with the political reality in his era, he decided to withdraw from public service and spent much of his life in reclusion, writing poetry to reflect on the beauty of countryside and simple life. He is considered the pioneer of recluse poetry, and his works a paragon of the ‘Fields and Gardens’ genre, an important poetic movement in classical Chinese literature.
Buddha Mind 