Moon Light over the Tsinghua Lotus Pond
Recently, I felt a bit uneasy. This evening, I sat in the court yard, trying to stay cool from the summer heat. Suddenly, I thought of the Lotus Pond that I passed by everyday. It must look differently under the full moon. The moon rose higher. The laughter from kids playing roadside died down. My wife was rocking my baby Runer, while humming a lullaby. I put on a jacket quietly, and went out.
Along side the Lotus pond, was a narrow winding unpaved path. Few people passed this path even during day time, almost nobody can be seen after the night falls. There were many trees surrounding the Lotus Pond, green and lush. On one side of the path, there were some poplars, some willows, and some other trees I don't recognize. The path looked a bit scary at night when there was no moonlight. Tonight, it looked quite nice, although the moon light was dim.
I was the only one strolling on the path. I kept a leisure pace when I strolled along. I felt that the whole surroundings belonged to me, as if I entered another world. I enjoyed company, but also enjoyed solitude. On a night like this, with the moonlight silently shedding over the world, I felt free to think about anything, or nothing at all. I could temporarily forget about the businesses that I had to take care during the day time, and indulge myself in this quiet night with sweet lotus smell and the beautiful moon light.
The Lotus Pond was filled with lotus leaves. The leaves rose above the water high, like skirts of the dancing ballerinas. Between the leaves, small white flowers blossomed or in bud. Some of them looked like shining gems, some others looked like twinkling stars, yet some looked like beautiful women just came out of bath. The wind carried the sweet smell from the lotus to me. I felt as if hearing faint music came from a distant tower. Suddenly, the wind caused a slight trembling of the lotus leaves and flowers. Like a lightening, the trembling quickly reached the other side of the pond. With the trembling, they green leaves looked like green waves as they rock from side to side. Under that green waves was the water. The water cannot be seen from above, but it made the leaves look more lush than ever.
The moonlight shed to the pond as if it was water pouring down on the leaves and the flowers. Faint mist rose in the pond. The lotus leaves and flowers appeared as if they were washed by the milk. They were like a dream covered with soft silk. Although it was a night of full moon, there were some scattered clouds. I thought that was perfect. Just like although it was good to enjoy a deep night's sleep, it was also good to have a quick nap once in a while. The moon light shone through the trees and the bushes over the highland. It cast jagged-shaped and ghost-look shades on the ground. On the contrast, some of the remote poplars and willows cast a nice shadow over the lotus leaves, as if they were printed there. The moon light was uneven over the pond, but the lights and shadow mixed with rhythm, reminded me of a classic piece of music played on the violin.
Around the lotus pond, densely populated many trees of varying heights, most of which are poplars and willows. Only around the path areas, the trees were sparse, as if those spaces were reserved for the moon light. All the trees have dark colors. Together, they formed dark fog of trees. If you look closer, the nice shape of poplars and willows could still be distinguished. On top of the trees, mountains from afar were vaguely visible. One or two street lights appeared through the tree. They looked like sleepy eyes. The cicadas buzzed and the frogs croaked loudly. While they were partying away, I felt all alone.
Suddenly, I thought of what I read about lotus seed picking. Picking lotus seeds was a tradition south of Yangtze River. It had been done over a thousand years. Ancient poems and songs were written about this activity. The pickers were usually young girls. They row small boats while humming love songs when they worked. Needless to say there were many of pickers when the season comes, also there were spectators just to watch lotus seeds being picked. Those were exciting times, full of love and romances.
The Emperor of the Liang Dynasty said in his poem “Ode to Lotus Picking”,
Lovely boys and girls, admired each other when rowing the boat together. They looked back slowly, and passed feather cups around. Algae hung on the paddles, the boat moved forward over the duckweed. A slender girl with white belt, moved slowly on the boat. The summer just began, and the spring just ended. Leaves were still light green and flowers just started to blossom. She smiled when avoiding to wet her clothes. She pulled up her skirts in fear of tipping over the boat.
This can give us some idea how it was done by then. It sounded quite fun, but now, we can no longer see it.
Also, I remembered some of the lyrics in Xizhou Song,
Picking Lotus Seeds in the fall at Nantang,
The lotus grew taller than men,
I looked down to play with the lotus seeds,
The seeds was clear as water.
If ever there were girls picking lotus seeds here, these lotus in the pond were also taller than men. However, the water was not moving fast in this pond. This reminds me of those places I visited south of Yangtze River. While still thinking about this, I looked up, realized I was back to my home. I opened the door softly. It was very quiet inside. My wife had fell asleep for a long time.
July 1927, at Tsinghua University, Beijing
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荷塘月色
作者: 朱自清
這幾天心裏頗不寧靜。今晚在院子裏坐著乘涼，忽然想起日日走過的荷塘，在這滿月的光裏，總該另有一番樣子吧。月亮漸漸地升高了，牆外馬路上孩子們的歡笑，已經聽不見了；妻在屋裏拍著閏兒，迷迷糊糊地哼著眠歌。我悄悄地披了大衫，帶上門出去。
沿著荷塘，是一條曲折的小煤屑路。這是一條幽僻的路；白天也少人走，夜晚更加寂寞。荷塘四麵，長著許多樹，蓊蓊鬱鬱的。路的一旁，是些楊柳，和一些不知道名字的樹。沒有月光的晚上，這路上陰森森的，有些怕人。今晚卻很好，雖然月光也還是淡淡的。
路上隻我一個人，背著手踱著。這一片天地好像是我的；我也像超出了平常的自己，到了另一世界裏。我愛熱鬧，也愛冷靜；愛群居，也愛獨處。像今晚上，一個人在這蒼茫的月下，什麽都可以想，什麽都可以不想，便覺是個自由的人。白天裏一定要做的事，一定要說的話，現在都可不理。這是獨處的妙處，我且受用這無邊的荷香月色好了。
曲曲折折的荷塘上麵，彌望的是田田的葉子。葉子出水很高，像亭亭的舞女的裙。層層的葉子中間，零星地點綴著些白花，有嫋娜地開著的，有羞澀地打著朵兒的；正如一粒粒的明珠，又如碧天裏的星星，又如剛出浴的美人。微風過處，送來縷縷清香，仿佛遠處高樓上渺茫的歌聲似的。這時候葉子與花也有一絲的顫動，像閃電般，霎時傳過荷塘的那邊去了。葉子本是肩並肩密密地挨著，這便宛然有了一道凝碧的波痕。葉子底下是脈脈的流水，遮住了，不能見一些顏色；而葉子卻更見風致了。
月光如流水一般，靜靜地瀉在這一片葉子和花上。薄薄的青霧浮起在荷塘裏。葉子和花仿佛在牛乳中洗過一樣；又像籠著輕紗的夢。雖然是滿月，天上卻有一層淡淡的雲，所以不能朗照；但我以為這恰是到了好處——酣眠固不可少，小睡也別有風味的。月光是隔了樹照過來的，高處叢生的灌木，落下參差的斑駁的黑影，峭楞楞如鬼一般；彎彎的楊柳的稀疏的倩影，卻又像是畫在荷葉上。塘中的月色並不均勻；但光與影有著和諧的旋律，如梵婀玲上奏著的名曲。
荷塘的四麵，遠遠近近，高高低低都是樹，而楊柳最多。這些樹將一片荷塘重重圍住；隻在小路一旁，漏著幾段空隙，像是特為月光留下的。樹色一例是陰陰的，乍看像一團煙霧；但楊柳的豐姿，便在煙霧裏也辨得出。樹梢上隱隱約約的是一帶遠山，隻有些大意罷了。樹縫裏也漏著一兩點路燈光，沒精打采的，是渴睡人的眼。這時候最熱鬧的，要數樹上的蟬聲與水裏的蛙聲；但熱鬧是它們的，我什麽也沒有。
忽然想起采蓮的事情來了。采蓮是江南的舊俗，似乎很早就有，而六朝時為盛；從詩歌裏可以約略知道。采蓮的是少年的女子，她們是蕩著小船，唱著豔歌去的。采蓮人不用說很多，還有看采蓮的人。那是一個熱鬧的季節，也是一個風流的季節。梁元帝《采蓮賦》裏說得好：
於是妖童媛女，蕩舟心許；鷁首徐回，兼傳羽杯；欋將移而藻掛，船欲動而萍開。爾其纖腰束素，遷延顧步；夏始春餘，葉嫩花初，恐沾裳而淺笑，畏傾船而斂裾。
可見當時嬉遊的光景了。這真是有趣的事，可惜我們現在早已無福消受了。
於是又記起《西洲曲》裏的句子：
采蓮南塘秋，蓮花過人頭；低頭弄蓮子，蓮子清如水。今晚若有采蓮人，這兒的蓮花也算得“過人頭”了；隻不見一些流水的影子，是不行的。這令我到底惦著江南了。——這樣想著，猛一抬頭，不覺已是自己的門前；輕輕地推門進去，什麽聲息也沒有，妻已睡熟好久了。
1927年7月，北京清華園。
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