Jonathan, Ashley, Yiyie, and Chris Chen

Below are a couple of Chinese poems that especially Jonathan and Ashley enjoyed. The chinese is on the left accompanied by the literary translation on the right.


遊子吟                                  Song of the Wanderer
by  孟郊                                by Meng Jiao

慈母手中線,        Thread in the hand of a compassionate mother --
遊子身上衣;            clothes on a wandering son;
臨行密密縫,            just before his departure she sewed closely,
意恐遲遲歸.            in her mind worrying about his late return.
誰言寸草心,        Who would say that the heart of inch-high grass
報得三春暉?        could repay the sunshine of deepest spring?

This "song" can be set and sung to a modern tune. One note on the last line: 三春 can be translated either as 3 months of the spring or as 3 years, to convey a long period of time.

The second poem is the first which Jonathan ever memorized in Chinese. Formatted like the first, here it is:

元曰                                     New Years Day
by 王安石                            by Wang Anshi

爆竹聲中一歲除                 At the sound of firecrackers, we bid farewell to the old year
春風送暖入屠蘇                 As vernal breezes warm up the Tu Su brew, we welcome the new
千門萬户瞳瞳日                 The sun shines, visiting thousands of family doors
總把新桃換舊符                 Every door displays new couplets to celebrate the New Year for all

The Chens have chosen a passage from Romans:

Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.  

For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person -- though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die -- but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.  

Romans 5:1-11

This passage is an encouragement and reminder that God works in mysterious ways -- though we may see something as suffering, God is using it to build up our endurance, character, and hope all at the same time.