Start the New Year with Manchu Women Poets
Some tidbits from "Two Centuries of Manchu Women Poets: An Anthology," by Wilt L. Idema, trans.
Two Centuries of Manchu Women Poets: An Anthology, by Wilt L. Idema, trans.
Bingyue
Bingyue flourished around the turn of the 19th century. Her name, Bingyue, means “icy moon,” but her pen name was “Cold Study,” as in ‘chilly workspace.’
“The pale light of a half moon fills the courtyard with its cold.”
—Bingyue
Insomnia (excerpt)
While incense burns I think of past events:
At what time did these white hairs come about?
One quickly learns the cold of ice and frost—
To teach one’s dream-soul to be pure is hard.
A bluish candle shines now bright; then dim;
The brilliant moon that’s waning will be full.
When one’s awakened, life is lacking substance,
And this whole world as light as just one smile.
—Bingyue
Blocked by the Wind during a Mountain Trip (excerpt)
The flying birds had crossed the layered peaks,
And everywhere a heavy mist was forming.
A whirling wind howled through the aged trees,
The lonely moon then paled a freezing sky.
—Bingyue
Lady Husihali
New Year’s Day, an Improvisation (1858)
Now time returns to the First Month, it is a lucky moment;
Firecrackers are exploding and all things today are new.
The streets are filled by bustling crowds in carriages, on horseback—
All people on their way to wish their friends a happy year.
—Lady Husihali
Self-Characterization (1860)
From birth I lack all talent but I do not know myself;
In vain I ply the brush and wrack my brain.
Even the winter plum is apt to give me inspiration:
One twig is blooming right now before my window.
“The only time to meet with him will be in midnight dreams;
This bitter pain cannot dissolve its thousand kinds of longing.
The many things of these six years have all become the past
And filled with feelings I shed tears below the full round moon.”
—Lady Husihali (1877)
On Myself (1880)
One half of me is without work, one half is busy.
When I’m depressed I grasp my brush and ask Blue Heaven:
You have me all day long in vain recite my verses
But to my shame I lack the skills to aid the world.
“When reading histories, I like the pre-Han writings;
In writing verse I hate what comes after the Tang.” (1880)
“Alas, most bitter is the separation from one’s own…
Parting and meeting in this life resemble floating clouds.” (1893)
“The sea, the moon, the creek, the clouds: a sorrow without bounds!” (1893)
Amidst ten thousand rays of gold appeared her golden body:
I met the Buddha in a dream as proof of former karma.
A single word disclosed the truth and so I was enlightened;
Now I call out to all those people who are still deluded.
—Lady Husihali (1894)
FROM:
Two Centuries of Manchu Women Poets: An Anthology, by Wilt L. Idema, trans.