The air of the Orient, fresh and clear

Glides swiftly through the fertile air of May

The Shanghai sun, on Darkest Sea appears

A burning life, awakes and greets this new day

Where is spring, in the flowers or the fields?

In the blossoms of a faint-aired meadow

Perhaps in a slender fawn as she kneels

Or in the crane, gentle neck white as snow

Is spring found in colors, vibrant in hue?

In the pink peachflower, soft and light

In the deep emerald stalks of sturdy bamboo

Or the honeyed voice of an oriole in flight

The treasures of spring, where do they lie?

All in a wandering mortal’s eye

 

 

The inspiration behind this sonnet comes from an adorable Chinese children’s song and poem that tells of the coming of spring, and wondering, where is spring represented in nature?

春 天 在 哪 里 呀，春 天 在 哪 里？

 春 天 在 哪 青 翠 的 山 林 里，

这 里 有 红 花 呀，这 里 有 绿 草，

还 有 那 会 唱 歌 的 小黄 鹂

 

The literal translation of this poem is:

Where is spring? Where is spring?

Spring lies in the green woods, with

Red flowers and green grass, and the

Singing little orioles

 

I think this song is very beautiful and being a first year Chinese student, I really enjoy taking my learning experience to another level, while also studying Chinese culture. Art is very vibrant and mystical in Asia, and also instilled with a great respect for natural and seasonal beauty. One of the most appreciated artistic subjects is of course, the season of spring, a time where fruits and trees are blossoming and life is being revitalized after a cold, and freezing winter. I tried to bring a sense of this into my sonnet by adding many visual representations of a spring in Asia, like the flora and fauna of rural Shanghai, with animals such the slender Central Asian Red Deer and the Red-Crowned Crane and also the beautiful picture of the blossoming peachflower and the representation of strength and the richness of the color of the bamboo. I found that while studying the Chinese language, it was coupled with a very visual and I think beautiful way of thinking. All words, per say, have a visual representation or two, made up of various “radicals” that have different meanings, which tell a sort of story whiles also being understandable and communicatable. The English translation of this song definitely does not do the original justice, so I wanted to write my sonnet and sort of elaborate in a way that paints a picture described by the characters of the song. I used a little bit of what I sort of categorize as “softer” adjectives, or sort of adjectives that communicate and add the sort of fluidness and motion that is seemingly always present in Asian art and even the writing of the character, i.e. calligraphy, which is an art upon itself. As an example words such as light, meadow, and swiftly, bring up mental pictures of the swift bamboo brushstrokes of a seasoned calligrapher. As was the original song, I made the sonnet based upon the question “where is spring?” or rather, what represents the season spring. The first four lines were sort of a prelude to this, talking about the beginning of spring, out of the summer, and how life begins to reawakens after the cold, dark winter, and how it does this so quickly, as a flame that burns away the vestiges of this winter. I ended the sonnet in a way, in which I hoped to encourage thought by the reader about what they truly treasure about the season of spring. I also would want people to realize, as is sort of my motive behind the sonnet, that these “treasures” are not gold, or silver or even jade, for that manner, but that these treasure are actually those of the natural world; pink and white peachblossoms, the spectacle of the Shanghai coastline, and overall the breathtaking beauty of nature.