Today I ran across a lovely small poem--Mayflower from Amily Dickinson.
MAY-FLOWER
Pink,small,and punctual,
Aromatic,low,
Covert in April,
Candid in May,
Dear to the moss,
Known by the knoll,
Next to the robin.
In every human soul.
Bold little beauty,
Bedecked with thee,
Nature forswears
Antiquity
Although I don't make sure if I have ever seen such kind of flower in reality, in my mind's eye, it should be some cute and beautiful wild flower in the field. And I love the metaphor/personification--"bold little beauty" especially. It seems that the poetess appreciates their courage to bedeck the Nature even though knowing they are small and humble, instead of those famous flowers in the greenhouse.
However, here I have a question. How should I understand the next sentence "Nature forswears antiquity" properly？I am a little confused. I sincerely pray that my readers would help me figure it out.
At the same time, there is a wording "punctual" which hits me at a stroke and reminds me of a very popular Chinese poem in Tang dynasty. Which one is it？I can't wait to share it with you and the outside world(English/western world).
春夜喜雨
杜甫(唐)
好雨知时节，当春乃发生(sh/eng)。
随风潜入夜，润物细无声(sh/eng)。
野径云俱黑，江船火独明。
晓看红湿处，花重锦官城(ch/eng)。
Just like I mentioned before, all Chinese characters are monosyllabic, so the ancient Chinese poetry mainly focuses on the rhyming as well as antithesis, without the so-called foot and meter in English poem or syllable pattern 5-7-5 in Haiku. In this poem, the ending character of the first sentence/生, the second one/声 and the last one/城 rhyme on "eng". Oh, maybe you will ask me, why do I emphasize rhyme so much？For my part, it is the very rhyming that makes the ancient Chinese poems full of charm, sweet and catchy and easy to recite.
At first let's enjoy its English version from the classical interpreter Xu Yuanchong whose translation is just characteristic of rhyming.
Happy Rain on a Spring Night
Du Fu(Tang Dynasty)
Good rain knows its time right;
It will fall when comes spring.
With wind it steals in night;
Mute, it moistens each thing.
O’er wild lanes dark cloud spreads;
In boat a lantern looms.
Dawn sees saturated reds;
The town’s heavy with blooms.
Now can you guess the reason why I associated the wording--punctual with this poem on a sudden inspiration？Yeah, it is becauae the good rain is as punctual as the mayflower. Here the 2 authors happened to coincide with the personfication to portray spring rain and mayflower which come at the specific time.
I must say that this jubilant poem singing high praise for "spring rain" is one of my favorites, whose author is no other than the famous poet Du Fu in Tang Dynasty, being honored as "poetry sage", like Li Bai was called "poetry immortal or fairy poet". Do you love the rain on a spring night like me？Just close your eyes, imagine how it creeps in night with the soft wind secretly, and moistens/nourishes all the plants outdoors tenderly and quietly. As far as I am concerned, the rain on a spring night is just a great friend who offers us help when we are in need with no strings attached. In fact, the sentence--润物细无声/Mute, it moistens each thing--is a well-known quotation in China, symbolizing the love from mother or teacher without asking for return.
Then let's spin the camera and follow the poet to look far away; the paths on the ground and the clouds on the sky are both dark, only the lamp of boat on the river being left bright. What a sharp contrast! What a perfect antithesis! 野径/the path between the field matches 江船/the boat on the river; 云/cloud matches 火/fire; 俱/altogether matches 独/alone and 黑/black matches 明/bright. (I think it can be a great way to pick up new Chinese characters through the antithesis of poem.)
Below is the second English version whose translator is unknown. You can compare them and judge which one you favor by yourself.
Delighting in Rain on a Spring Night
Du Fu
A good rain knows its proper time;
It waits until the Spring to fall.
It drifts in on the wind, steals in by night,
Its fine drops drench, yet make no sound at all.
The paths between the fields are cloaked with clouds;
A river-skiff's lone light still burns.
Come down, we'll see splashes of wet-red--
The flowers in Chengdu, weighed with rain.
In the second version, we can find a city name--Chengdu being referred to. Yeah, Chengdu is the capital of Si Chuan province in the southwest of China. When he wrote this poem, the poet Du Fu was living in Chengdu where he once spent a not long but the happiest time in his wandering latter half of life. During those days he also wrote quite a few other exquisite poems depicting the natural beauty of Chengdu such as Walking alone along riverside,The riverside village, and A Quatrain: Two yellow orioles sing in the green willows, etc. We can feel a kind of joyness and leisure overflowing from the lines. Maybe it is just the pleasure of reading poems. Uncon-sciously we are influenced by them, echoing with them and entering a special cheerful world that the poet creates. Thanks to these poems, God knows that in the corner of my heart, there is always a magical land exuding the eternal idyllic fragrance whose name is Chengdu.
What's more, the translated text "splashes of red-wet" is extremely accurate and vivid which is redolent of the traditional Chinese painting technique of "splash-ink". It makes the whole Chengdu city come off as a huge painting heavy with beautiful red flowers. What a gorgeous and magnificent scene!
At last I think there is a necessity to talk about a period of real history. Why do we say the poet had a wandering life？The truth is he suffered a war which was the turning point of Tang Dynasty from the open and prosperous to the closed and declined. From then on, the famous "Silk Road" towards the outside world was blocked. Du Fu came from north China to Chengdu/south China just for seeking refuge from the fighting--An-shi Rebellion lasting the 8 years which caused the death of Concubine Yang. Based on this tragedy of love story between the Tang emperor and Concubine Yang, Bai Juyi composed his classical long poem--Everlasting Regret.
P.S. Without the encouragement and support from Teacher 