Autumn Thought

Autumn Thought

It has been crisp, misty and moist in the morning lately in our area.
Leaves from some of the trees have already started to turn golden
yellow, and the morning sun looks like pale gold.

天階夜色涼如水, 櫚庭多落葉, 慨然知已秋. It is the time of year again.
We have entered the season of autumn, (or often called fall, when
leaves fall from the trees.)

During the freshman year in my high school in Taipei, there were
often "作文比賽". One of my classmates 林姓同學 once got the first
place prize for the topic “時節”. In his writing, he said:
“……… 當楓葉染紅了大地不久, 北風又已在呼呼地長嘯. ……….”

I was quite amazed by his experience, or his imagination of “楓葉
染紅了大地”, as I had never had the chance to witness “染紅大地的
楓葉” in Taiwan then.

秋風蕭瑟天氣涼, 草木搖落露為霜. Autumn is my favorite time of the
year. There are things and themes which are unique during the
autumn season, such as 秋月, 秋風, 秋雨, 秋葉, 秋水, 秋夜, 秋聲,…… .
They were the popular subjects of the ancient Chinese 詩 and 詞.

山居秋暝 (王維)

空山新雨後，天氣晚來秋。
明月松間照，清泉石上流。

秋風詞 (李白)

秋風清，秋月明，落葉聚還散，寒鴉棲復驚，
相思相見知何日，此時此夜難為情。

蘇幕遮(范仲淹 )

碧雲天，黃葉地，秋色連波，波上寒煙翠。

秋夜寄邱員外(韋應物)

懷君屬秋夜，散步詠涼天。
空山松子落，幽人應未眠。

滕王閣序 (王勃)

落霞與孤鶩齊飛，秋水共長天一色。

The sound of autumn is often considered to be sad and lonely. Yet
歐陽修 found "秋聲" quite "異哉", as he described in his "秋聲賦":

歐陽子方夜讀書，聞有聲自西南來者，悚然而聽之，曰：“異哉,”
初淅瀝以蕭颯，忽奔騰而砰湃，如波濤夜驚，風雨驟至。其触於物也，
鏦鏦錚錚，金鐵皆鳴；又如赴敵之兵，銜枚疾走，不聞號令，但聞人馬
之行聲。予謂童子：“此何聲也？汝出視之。 ”童子曰：“星月皎潔，
明河在天，四無人聲，聲在樹間。”


Yeh Tze