Dedicated to Li Po

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Dedicated to Li Po
Dedicated to Li Po

床前明月光
疑是地上霜
舉頭望明月
低頭思故鄉

[靜夜思, 李白]

The moonlight reflecting on the waves of the lake reminded me of frost. In turn, that play of moonlight and frost reminded me of a classic Chinese poem by Li Po (above) that I memorized in college.

It reminded me of my youth and to Li Po's reach out to me here on the other side of the world. This photo is vague and minimalist because it seems to me that the essence of nostalgia is nebulous and minimalist by nature.

As I took this photo, I recited the poem above. I still knew it by heart.

For most who might be reading this in English, the poem above in Chinese is lost on them. So below is my own English translation of its meaning. In its own language each line of the poem consists of five syllables, which are also five words. It has a clear rhythm. It also has a marvelous rhyming pattern. The last word of the first, second and fourth lines rhyme. The third line's last word breaks up the rhyme but in doing so accentuates the rhyme pattern by adding variety. All of that is lost in English.

A quiet night's contemplation
--
Moonlight shines before my bed
Like frost on the ground
With a glance aloft I see its source, a bright moon
I drop my head, thinking fondly of my old home town*

*Note: LiPo's old home town, which skirted the foothills of the high mountains of the Himalayan Plateau, was in Sichuan, where the summer is hot and the winters have periods of frost. He served the Tang Dynasty (8th Century A.D.) as a translator and teacher in the faraway national capital of Chang'an (now Xian), with its dry winters.

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Taken on: February 27, 2016
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Camera: Nikon D7200, f/6.3, 1/800 sec, 300mm (=450mm), ISO 25600 (more info) (hide info)
Camera: Nikon D7200
Lens: 18.0-300.0 mm f/3.5-6.3
Aperture: f/6.3
Exposure Time: 0.001 sec (1/800)
Focal Length: 300mm (35mm equivalent: 450mm)
ISO: 25600
Exposure Bias: +1 EV
Flash: Off, Did not fire
Exposure Program: Program AE
Exposure Mode: Auto
Metering Mode: Spot
White Balance: Auto
Gain Control: High gain up
Saturation: High
Sharpness: Hard
Color Space: sRGB
Software: Ver.1.00b
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