Sunday, July 22, 2018

draft 落霞孤鶩飛 秋水長天色 Foo Hong Calligraphy 王勃 WANG Bo


落霞與孤鶩齊飛        秋水共長天一色
Luò xiá yǔ gū wù qí fēi qiūshuǐ gòng cháng tiān yīsè

出自唐朝 王勃《滕王閣序》táng cháo wángbó “téngwánggé xù”


Calligraphy by Foo Hong. NinHo collection

落霞孤鶩飛        秋水長天色


Dad, Foo Hong, cut the 7 words(落霞與孤鶩齊飛  秋水共長天一色 Luò xiá yǔ gū wù qí fēi qiūshuǐ gòng cháng tiān yīsè) Stanza into 5 (落霞孤鶩飛   秋水長天色)for his calligraphy. One can argue if  it can represent all that Wang wanted to express. I am glad NinHo frames dad's work.
Some says if it is a 6 words stanza, it is even better :落霞與孤鶩飛  秋水長天一色, however Chinese poem stanza is either 5 or 7 words.

The author , 王勃 wángbó,was 24 y-old when he wrote this poem on his way to visit his father who was in exile because of him. Unfortunately he was drowned crossing the sea at age 26 before or after the visit to his father who was exiled in what is now Vietnam ( It takes really a long time from traveling point A to Point B)

落霞與孤鶩齊飛,秋水共長天一色 翻譯:雨後的天空,烏雲消散,陽光又重新照耀著大地。陽光映射下的彩霞與野鴨一起飛翔。大雨後的江水顯得異常的充盈,遠遠望去,江水似乎和天空連接在一起。 The sunset is flying together with lonely wild goose, and the autumn water connected the sky at the horizon forming a unity. If you like to read more about this essay and poem in English: please click

Following is the Poem:
滕王閣  TENG WANG GE ("King of Teng's Grand Pavilion")
-- by WANG BO (650-676)
-- Translated by Frank C Yue

By the bank of River Gan, King Teng's Grand Pavilion is found,
But gone were the songs, dances, swinging pendants', horse-bells' sounds.
Dawn clouds, from this south parting-place, fly o'er the painted beams;
At Dusk, outside rolled-up pearly curtains, west-hill rains are seen.

Cast shadows on the gorge in the sun, leisure clouds on high;
Stars and things, move and change: How many Autumns have gone by?
In the Pavilion, now, where is the King?
Off the railings, the lone river flows in vain!

More about Wang Po:

https://drive.google.com/open?id=10GMRitSrz66o541QBNQhvAxFAhIQ__MVHBe8-snWTSs