Emerald Walls - Three Poems #3, Li Shangyin
Friday, 19 June 2020 07:47![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lnhammer3
Upon the Double Seventh, she came at the preset time—
Till now, her inner chamber curtain had stayed closed.
The Jade Disc takes care of the Rabbit’s newborn soul,
The coral on the iron lattice is still unbranched.
Choose a magic prescription, teach her to stay her looks.
Gather up phoenix papers, write down both your feelings.
It’s laid out clearly in The Life of Emperor Wu—
Don’t say there’s no one in the mortal realm who knows!
三
七夕来时先有期，
洞房帘箔至今垂。
玉轮顾兔初生魄，
铁网珊瑚未有枝。
检与神方教驻景，
收将凤纸写相思。
武皇内传分明在，
莫道人间总不知。
The festival of the Double Seventh (the 7th day of the 7th lunar month) is a time for lovers to meet. The bit about the moon rabbit growing a soul suggests a pregnancy, the coral without branches that it's early term (iron lattices were used in coral aquaculture), and the prescription seems to be for an abortifacient. Phoenix paper was used for both imperial edicts and Daoist spells—possibly both associations are intended here. The point about Wu’s biography goes completely over my head.
---L.
Upon the Double Seventh, she came at the preset time—
Till now, her inner chamber curtain had stayed closed.
The Jade Disc takes care of the Rabbit’s newborn soul,
The coral on the iron lattice is still unbranched.
Choose a magic prescription, teach her to stay her looks.
Gather up phoenix papers, write down both your feelings.
It’s laid out clearly in The Life of Emperor Wu—
Don’t say there’s no one in the mortal realm who knows!
三
七夕来时先有期，
洞房帘箔至今垂。
玉轮顾兔初生魄，
铁网珊瑚未有枝。
检与神方教驻景，
收将凤纸写相思。
武皇内传分明在，
莫道人间总不知。
The festival of the Double Seventh (the 7th day of the 7th lunar month) is a time for lovers to meet. The bit about the moon rabbit growing a soul suggests a pregnancy, the coral without branches that it's early term (iron lattices were used in coral aquaculture), and the prescription seems to be for an abortifacient. Phoenix paper was used for both imperial edicts and Daoist spells—possibly both associations are intended here. The point about Wu’s biography goes completely over my head.
---L.
no subject
Date: 19 June 2020 21:02 (UTC)That feels like an in-joke I am utterly lacking context for.
no subject
Date: 20 June 2020 03:07 (UTC)no subject
Date: 19 June 2020 23:16 (UTC)no subject
Date: 20 June 2020 03:07 (UTC)