Autumn has been going on for several days, and the weather is slowly getting cooler. Especially in the morning and evening, there has begun to be a hint of coolness.
However, in the past summer, the heat was unbearable, there was no air conditioning, and I couldn't sleep.
The ancients did not have air conditioning in that era, how did they sleep on such a hot night?
The Song Dynasty poet Yang Wanli wrote a poem called "Chasing The Cool in The Summer Night", which is very flavorful to read:
The night heat is still the same as the afternoon heat, and the door is opened in the middle of the moon.
Bamboo deep tree dense insect song, sometimes there is a slight cool is not the wind.
The opening paragraph explains that the heat at night is difficult to stay up, "the night heat is still the same as the afternoon heat". The heat of the day is because of the illumination of the sun, and a hot fog rises between heaven and earth, and only by soaking in cold water can you see a little coolness. I thought I would be able to cool off at night, but I didn't expect it to be as hot as noon.
During the day, it is very hot and there can be many ways to cool down, but at night, it can only be "open the door and stand in the moon". The weather was fine, and the big moon shone on the still hot earth. The poet turned over on the bed and could not sleep, so he had to "open the door and stand small" in the "moonlight", hoping to get a little coolness.
However, the "bamboo deep tree dense insect song" in the yard seems to have swallowed up the cool breeze. Although there is a "slight coolness" in the face, we are all very clear that it is not "wind", but just a cool feeling of calm and natural coolness.
Where does this peace of mind come from?
First of all, the poetry's description of the environment can be seen in its own serenity. After all, "bamboo is deep and dense", the poet and nature are closely integrated; secondly, the subsequent "insect song" can enter the ear in the subtleties, showing the tranquility of the environment in the middle of the night. Quiet environment, quiet night, the poet although suffering from the heat, but still able to harvest a peace in the heart.
"Sometimes there is a slight coolness is not the wind", so that the poet feels the slightest coolness, not the cool wind, but the quiet and calm in the heart.
Yang Wanli's small poems have always had a strong breath of life. "The little lotus only shows its sharp horns, and there are dragonflies standing on its head" is like this, and the same is true here in the "bamboo deep tree dense insect song, sometimes there is a slight coolness but not the wind".