Street Poetry, Literally



This was in 杭州 (HangZhou, China) near a Ferrari store strangely enough. The guy was apparently well educated as he was so consistent with his calligraphy. If the picture isn't clear, here's the poem:


尋尋覓覓自飄零
慘慘戚戚獨遠行
人在天涯腸欲斷
景物依然氣象新

。。。

My translation:

"Seeking himself by drifting like leaves
A mis'rable vagrant alone he believes:
At earth's horizon we forsee a new view,
But the sights are the same, only weather is new..."

In the original there is a cool parallel between lines one and two: both with a duplicated adjective, then a reflexive adverb, finished with a two syllable word for travel. And it rhymes! Lines three and four don't hold a rhyme, but some very cool word play is going on. You can vertically exchange a few of the characters from line three to line four and get an entirely new line three and four. Now I wish I had stayed to see the guy finish writing, he's not bad!

--BJB

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