Nainai's poetry, part 1

I was telling my new friend Jen that my mom and I have begun translating a book of poetry my Dad's mom wrote, my grandmother, my sisters and I called her Nainai--as in "til morning is nigh". She said I should blog about it. And so here we go. A fourth repurposing for this blog. To sum up the time since my last post, I spent the rest of the summer in NYC at Deutsch, the beach, and at church. At the end of August I moved to Seattle and found a place in the neighborhood Rainier Beach that I've been in since October 1. Working from home has been nice. Visitors have been fun. Church hunting has been encouraging. And friend-making very pleasant. Best of all has been more regular time with my family.

So, to the point. Chinese poetry has strict forms and also free form.

This is a non-standard couplet Nainai wrote about visiting her first son, an adoptee, after thirty years of separation. The backstory I'll have to tell you in person. His name was Ceng and the description she wrote says: Ceng’s whole family and three of her nieces bidding farewell at the train station.

1. [3 lines of 4 words, 2 lines of 5 words, 1 line of 8 words]
We parted as children
White-haired, we meet
The years in between
 
Full of ups and downs.
Together now, we must rejoice 
 
Don’t let go of the good old days.
 
2. [10 lines of 5 words]
Mother and child meet again
Enjoy fleeting happiness of family
Our lives like morning dew
Together less, mostly far apart
Happy, sing a high song
Leaving, sing a farewell song
Now I ask one departing,
“When are you coming back?”
“I cannot give an answer,
Who knows what will be?"