Chinese poem illustration:鸟鸣涧 Birds Singing Creek by Wang Wei
This poem is one of five poems that Wang Wei wrote for his friend’s Cloud Creek Villa(云溪别墅) just outside of Shaoxing town(绍兴).
Unlike Bai Juyi’s Reminiscence of Jiangnan(白居易/忆江南), which was depicting the spring of same area directly, Wang Wei’s picturesque poem sounds like an illusion, a puzzle, meditation of Zen….
The first 2 sentences depict a STATIC silence, the last 2 sentences depict a DYNAMIC silence.人闲桂花落 became one possible pursuit of life for Chinese intellectuals.
鸟鸣涧
王维
人闲桂花落，
夜静春山空。
月出惊山鸟，
时鸣春涧中。
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