Ninth Lunar Month, Fifteenth Day, Evening Moon Through Thin and Delicate Osmanthus Branches, Its Northern Exposure Lush, Southern Patchy, No Old Friends Have Written of This: Two Four-Line Poems: No. 2
九 月 十 五 夜 月 细 看 桂 枝 北 茂 南 缺，未 经 古 人 拈 出 记 以 二 绝 句
青 天 如 水 月 如 空
月 色 天 容 一 皎 中。
若 遣 桂 华 生 塞 了
姮 娥 无 殿 兔 无 宫。
Jiu Yue Shi Wu Ye Yue Xi Kan Gui Zhi Bei Mao Nan Que, Wei Jing Gu Ren Nian Chu Ji Yi Er Jue Ju
(2)
Qing tian ru shui yue ru kong
Yue se tian rong yi jiao zhong.
Ruo qian gui hua sheng sai liao
Heng e wu dian tu wu gong.
Ninth Lunar Month, Fifteenth Day, Evening Moon Through Thin and Delicate Osmanthus Branches, Its Northern Exposure Lush, Southern Patchy, No Old Friends Have Written of This: Two Four-Line Poems: No. 2
Clear skies like an upstream river, moon appears to be suspended
Moonlit sky, moon centered clear and bright.
Without pruning, this radiance would have been blocked out
And the Moon Goddess and lunar rabbit would then have had no space for their palace.
Notes:
Heng E: later known as Chang E: In Chinese mythology she is known as the wife of archer Hou Yi who shot out of the sky nine of the ten then existing suns. Both are linked to the popular Mid-Autumn Festival. The lunar rabbit uses a mortar and pestle to pound and pulverize ingredients to create Chinese medicines.