Tuesday 12 March 2013

辛亥革命前傳 黄花崗百年有感: 辛亥神州飄霜雪, 白巾選鋒湛碧血。My Motherland pelted by sleet and snow, But in Canton, Spring warm, though brief like so!

辛亥革命前傳:黄花崗百年有感


本篇絕非七言律詩(一首8句,每句7字,共56字),或七言絕句(一首4句,每句7字,共28字),衹是一些 '集錦拚圖、全無平仄' 的七字 ' 疑似押韻,疑似對仗,疑似詩句',請勿見怪。


【辛亥神州飄霜雪  白巾選鋒湛碧血】

-- by Frank C Yue (written on 2011.10.10)

辛亥神州飄霜雪,
白巾選鋒湛碧血。
春雲羊城悲三月,
成仁國魂捨身决!

狼虎內外交搏哀,
秋煞愁雨濕黄花。
烈士乾坤扭轉來!
百年金甲落誰家? 


ON THE 100TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE "3.29 CANTON UPRISING" 
(PRECURSOR TO THE 1911 "DOUBLE TENTH" REVOLUTION IN CHINA)
-- by Frank C Yue  (written on 2011.10.10)

My Motherland pelted by sleet and snow,
But in Canton, Spring warm, though brief like so!
The commandos, white arm-bands stain'd blood red,
Still charg'd forth for Freedom, alive or dead!

Of cruel battles, wolves, tigers made fine art!
Drenching sad yellow mums, Autumn rains depart --
Martyrs gave their lives, turning Heav'n and Earth.
O! Where's "the Nation" Martyrs help'd to birth?



Notes:

1. The Poem︰
starts with 孫中山 Sun Yat-sen's failed Third Rebellion in Canton on April 27, 1911. (On the Chinese lunar calendar this was the 29th day of the third month in the Year of Xinhai 辛亥三月二十六.)

2. Line 2 of the Chinese verse '白巾選鋒湛碧血'︰
The revolutionaries' “選鋒” 敢死隊 or “Elite Vanguards” wore white arm-bands 白巾 (for easy identification). The uprising was the precursor of the successful October 10, 1911 army-mutineers-led Wuchang Rebellion 武昌首義 in Central China, directly leading to the demise of the Qing dynasty and China's 3,000-year-old Feudalism.

3. Line 3 '春雲羊城悲三月'︰
羊城 is the so-called 'Five-Ram City', according to legend, that is Canton. In the Huanghaugang Uprising 黃花崗起義︰the 186 revolutionaries, martyred in the uprising, were buried at 黃花崗七十二烈士墓 Huanghaugang (“Yellow Flowers Hillock”) Mausoleum of the 72 Martyrs, Canton, China.

4. Line 4 '百年金甲落誰家?
 金甲︰黃金甲 = yellow chrysanthemums/mums/flowers.

5. Line 6 of the English rendition︰
Martyrs help'd to birth = the Martyrs helped to (give) birth (to).

6. This Chinese "poem" is basically a 'copy-and-paste, fill-in-the-blanks' word puzzle, but NOT a classical 7-word 4-lined 律詩 lǜ shī ; just compare the following characters shown within brackets < >︰

Line 2, '白巾選鋒<湛碧血>' and
Line 3, '<春雲>羊城悲三月'

vs. 黃興所撰 "黃花崗烈士墓 對聯"︰ "七十二健兒酣戰<春雲湛碧血>"

Line 5, <秋>煞<愁> <雨濕黄花> vs. 黃興所撰︰  "四百兆國子<愁>看<秋雨濕黃花>"

Line 7, 烈士<乾坤扭轉來>  vs. 孫中山 【詠志】︰ ... "頂天立地奇男子,要把<乾坤扭轉來>" 

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