My birthday

                                     -----to my teenage classmates

Plum blossom or wintersweet is my monthly flower, and my childhood name is Jimai, which means lucky plum. It was named by my maternal grandfather, who once worked for the press and knew some English and Japanese as well.

There are some kinds of wintersweets. Japanesque sayings are 蝋梅(腊梅)，黄梅，and 鱼柳梅.

My birthday is January 12^th, so my monthly flower must be wax plum, or蝋梅, which is in excellent blossom in the early January.

                         Ode to wintersweet

Wherever the plums are living in the fields or the hills, beside the rivers or in the dead ground of the waste lands, every time when I am bored by the beauty and sweet of the flowers in my own garden, I will be missing the scenery around, and want to have a look at the wild plum trees. The broken terrene, the crooked gate, the meager farmland which almost sunk, or the small temple which just has the shape, etc. She is always something that can catch your eyes, touch your mind. If the trees like these are in blossom, one or two, you look at the distance of the slope branches, and drink the Dusu Wine at the same time. If you are the man of the high virtue and keep your mind as pure as water, whatever circumstance you have been in, wherever you are, the custom of your shelter won’t be moved, and the custom of your shelter will be easy to spread. The man who read the announcement of dispatching troops to fight and don’t cry in tears, he is still my friend. According to this, the man who likes this flower, he won’t get embarrassed if he has been a servant.

　梅は野にありても山にありても、小川のほとりにありても荒磯の隈にありても、たゞおのれの花の美しく香の清きのみならず、あたりのさまをさへ床しきかたに見さするものなり。崩れたる土塀、歪みたる衡門、あるいは掌のくぼほどの瘠畠、形ばかりなる小社などの、常は眼にいぶせく心にあかぬものも、それ近くにこの花の一ト木二タ木咲き出づるあれば、をかしきものとぞ眺めらるゝ。たとへば徳高く心清き人の、如何なるところにありても、其居るところの俗には移されずして、其居るところの俗を易ふるがごとし。出師の表を読みて涙をおとさぬ人は猶友とすべし、この花好まざらん男は奴とするにも堪へざらん。

梅树无论生长在野外还是生长在山坡，无论生长在小河旁还是生长在荒磯的死角，每当对自己家的花的美和清香看不惯时，就怀念起周围的景致来，想去看一看野生的梅树。崩塌的土塀，歪斜的衡门，或者掌面几乎下陷的瘦田，只具形状的小社稷等等，她常常是熏人眼睛，撩人心扉的东西，这样的花若在附近开出一树两树，便遥望着那倾斜的树枝，饮起杜苏来。若是德高而心纯如水的人，无论何种情况，身处何地，其居所之俗不移，其居所今年突然易俗。读了出师表而不流眼泪的人，仍然是朋友；以此为例，爱此花的男子，即使作为男仆也能忍受。