Today let's enjoy a very small but interesting ancient Chinese poem together. The title of this poem is “Asking Liu Shijiu”. Liu Shijiu is the name of
one of the author's friends.
In fact, it is today's Haiku written by Teacher @dbooster that evokes my momery of this little poem. In his haiku he is asking the trees if he can join them to dance in a spring night. Similarly the author was asking his friend if he could come and take a shot together in a winter night.
问刘十九
白居易
绿蚁新醅酒，红泥小火炉（l/u）。
晚来天欲雪，能饮一杯无(w/u)？
We can see that 炉(lu) and 无（wu）rhyme. Below is the English version from Xu Yuanchong who was a classical English translator in ancient Chinese poetry.
Asking Liu Shijiu
Bai Juyi
My new brew gives green glow，
My red clay stove flames up.
At dusk it threatens snow.
Won’t you come for a cup?
Another version should be from a western scholar named Burton Watson.
Asking Liu Shijiu
Bai Juyi
Green bubbles – new brewed wine;
Lumps of red – a small stove for heating;
Evening comes and the sky threatens snow –
Could you drink a cup, I wonder?
I leave you to choose which version you prefer. For me, the first version is in good rhyme. Glow vs. Snow and up vs. cup. The second version is more vivid and pictorial. The new-made delicious wine is bubbling slightly, looking like a troop of green ants(绿蚁) moving on the surface, whereas the stove for heating it is made of the red clay. What's more, the white snow is coming outside! Such a sharp contrast in color--green, red and white which brings the readers a wonderful kind of visual enjoyment!
Its original author is a famous poet in Tang dynasty named Bai Juyi. He was known for writing the fresh, natural and easy-to-understand poetry. Yeah, I can recite quite a few of his other simple but beautiful poems. I sincerely wish I could share them one by one in the near future! Of course, he was also famous for 2 pieces of the long classical poems: 长恨歌/Everlasting Regret which describes the love story between Tang Xuanzong and Concubine Yang
and 琵琶行/ The Pi-pa player which potrayed a geisha's gorgeous techniques in playing Pi-pa(a kind of music instrument) and her unfortunate wondering life experiences.
Thanks for reading it!