立春 － The Beginning of Spring

Since last week we are in the solar term of Lichun, the beginning of spring! And I’m sooo ready for spring  - as all of us I guess!
Lichun is the first solar term of the year, so it marks the beginning of a new year. Chinese New Year is now only a few days ahead of us! ​

Although it is snowing outside, I feel like sharing a Chinese Spring poem from the Tang Dynasty...

Moonlit night

When moonbeams light more than half my house
And the Big Dipper and Southern Star criss-cross
On such a night I sense and smell a warm spring
In a cricket’s sound passing by my green window screen

月 夜

更 深 月 色 半 人 家
北 斗 闌 干 南 斗 斜
今 夜 偏 知 春 氣 暖
蟲 聲 新 透 綠 窗 沙


Liu Fangping 劉 方 平

Liu (c.742 in Luoyang – c.779) began an official career quite early, but he resigned from office in his thirties to live a hermit’s life. The poem Moonlit night expresses his oneness with nature. 蟲 聲, literally bug sound, but cricket works since the criss-crossing stars imitate the sound of the cricket’s song.


Alternate translation:

Moonlit Night

As moon colors half my house
And the North Star rises and the South Star sets
I can feel in the warm air the first moment of spring
In an insect singing at my green-silk screen


(Translations: https://100tangpoems.wordpress.com)

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