Beneath the light, the river and hills are beautiful, The spring breeze bears the fragrance of flowers and grass. The mud has thawed, and swallows fly around. On the warm sand, mandarin ducks are sleeping.
Du FuRead
My heart is in a world of water and crystal, My clothes are damp in this time of spring rains.
Interpretation
The quote expresses a connection to nature, illustrating the beauty and challenges of spring weather.
Du Fu's quote reflects the beauty of nature in spring, with its rains stimulating growth and life. It conveys a sense of being immersed in the environment, where the dampness of the season brings both discomfort and a sense of rejuvenation, highlighting the duality of experiencing nature's beauty alongside its challenges.
In practice
This quote can be shared during a nature walk to reflect on the beauty of spring.
Beneath the light, the river and hills are beautiful, The spring breeze bears the fragrance of flowers and grass. The mud has thawed, and swallows fly around. On the warm sand, mandarin ducks are sleeping.
The weeping voices rise straight up and strike the clouds. A passer-by at the roadside asks a conscript why, The conscript answers only that drafting happens often.
Could I get mansions covering ten thousand miles, I'd house all the poor scholars and make them beam with smiles
I see shining fish struggling within tight nets, while I hear orioles singing carefree tunes. Even trivial creatures know the difference between freedom and bondage. Sympathy and compassion should be but natural to the human heart.
Eventually, my eyes were opened, and I really understood nature. I learned to love at the same time.
There's a lot of cruelty going on all the time, and I'm not just talking about inter-human cruelty. I'm talking about whole species becoming extinct, asteroids hitting planets, black holes gobbling up stars.
At times I feel as if I am spread out over the landscape and inside things, and am myself living in every tree, in the plashing of the waves, in the clouds and the animals that come and go, in the procession of the seasons.
I just wish the world was twice as big and half of it was still unexplored.
What other species now require of us is our attention. Otherwise, we are entering a narrative of disappearing intelligences.
Grass is the forgiveness of nature - her constant benediction. Forests decay, harvests perish, flowers vanish, but grass is immortal...Its tenacious fibers hold the earth in place and prevent its soluble components from washing to the wasting sea.
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