Arriving at Kanghe's, a fresh scene and colors:
Flowers delicate, willows beautiful, greens tender and new.
Fishing boat chasing waves, heart unfettered,
To the clear stream's end, and another vista.
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| l-r: my mom, grandfather, grandmother, younger uncle, older uncle. |
All day long, meandering a ten-mat* room,
The small yard barely provides a leisurely view.
Korean grass, thin and soft, evenly paved green.
Mountain hewn ornamental stones, stubborn and dumb.
By the stone, shrub after shrub of azaleas.
In March, the flower blossoms redden as if laughing.
Gardenia branches', plump after the rain,
Thick fragrance attracts hovering bees.
Pine tree bark sloughs off like dragon scales,
Palm tree frond bends like phoenix tails.
Dark green banyan and new green cypress form rows and rows,
Only the grapevine doesn't thrive.
Orchid, beneath the leaves a secret scent,
By itself in a corner of the wall, goes unnoticed.
Osmanthus** month by month fanning moonlight,
Golden grains clothed in dull colors.
By the fence, the chrysanthemum doesn't wait for Double Yang to bloom,***
Hot climate without frost, no cause for boasting.
Lacking talent, cannot draw a picture,
Inspiration strikes, and so seek material for poems.
Outside the garden, at the neighbor's house, stand a few tall coconut trees, graceful figures****.
Fans swaying in the breeze, evening silhouettes.
*mat refers to a tatami, a standard japanese unit for measuring room area
**particularly suited for the climate, blooms every month
***Chinese like to plant chrysanthemum by fences because a famous poem says:
Picking up chrysanthemum by the eastern fence,
Out of a dream, I see the Southern mountain.
To the point that when you see 'eastern fence' in a poem, it means chrysanthemum.
****The trees were so tall it looked like they were in our garden, but they were in the neighbors.
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