Flowers, to the tune of the Black-Naped Oriole

There is some kind of dialog between the Black-Naped Oriole poems in SB 11 and the Wind in the Pines poems that follow them. The Black-Naped Oriole poems are fun-loving, while the Wind in the Pines poems use many of the same words and themes to produce a more profound and bittersweet effect.

The following is the Black-Naped Oriole pair to the poem in my earlier post about A Flower. The last line of a Black-Naped Oriole poem often has a surprising twist on the theme of the poem, and this one is a good example of that. After describing flowers in glowing terms, the poet ends by suggesting the scene might be strange and unearthly.

	ilha [花]		Flowers
	Staatsbibliothek 11.6 (View Online)
	hojo fayangga,		Beautiful spirits
	yoo tai [瑤台] ci,		from White Jade Terrace
	wasika,		descended.
	booci jalan šanggaha,		From that home, finishing in this world,
5	hocikon sasa,		lovely together,
	gincihiyan baba,		shining everywhere,
	fiyangga fiyan jai,		a flush blush and
	wangga wa,		a fragrant scent.
	agu tuwa,		Brother, look,
10	kumungge ten –		the height of festivity –
	hode faijuma.		perhaps it is unearthly.

Translation Notes

yoo tai. Yaotai is an abode of immortals. My translation of 瑶 as “white jade” comes from the fact that 瑶 can mean, by extension, brilliantly and purely white (zdic: 光明洁白).

faijuma. The word faijuma apparently has a negative connotation. The Qianlong dictionary explains it as follows: baita hacin sain akū jalin jobošome hendumbihede faijuma sembi, “When people talk about being distressed by things and affairs that are not good, they use the word faijuma.” I think the poet does not mean to say that flowers are creepy or unsettling, but at the same time I think he doesn’t want the reader to be completely comfortable with these strange and beautiful things that seem to have descended from some other realm.