Su Shi
Su Shi (1037–1101), also known as Su Dongpo, was a leading Song dynasty poet, essayist, calligrapher, painter and government official. The quoted line, from his lyric 'Shui Diao Ge Tou', reflects on life's sorrow and joy and the cyclical nature of time.
Quotes by Su Shi
Quotes: 2
Sharing the Moon: Accepting Life’s Rhythms of Change
Carried forward, the moon becomes our shared mirror. In East Asia, Mid-Autumn gatherings, mooncakes, and lanterns honor reunion under the same sky. Poets made the moon a conduit of longing: Li Bai’s Quiet Night Thought (c. 8th century) links pale light with homesickness, while Sappho’s fragment on the setting moon folds desire into celestial rhythm. Islamic communities glimpse the slender hilāl to begin Ramadan, and Japanese tsukimi marks appreciative watching. Across cultures, the lunar face steadies our scattered lives by offering a common point of attention. [...]
Created on: 10/6/2025
Sharing One Moon Across a Thousand Miles
In this light, the wish keeps traveling. Song-era city sketches like Meng Yuanlao’s Eastern Capital: A Dream of Splendor (c. 1147) already describe moon-viewing gatherings with lanterns and pastries, a pattern modern Mid-Autumn festivals echo from Guangzhou to San Francisco. During pandemic separations, families traded mooncake photos at dusk, aligning their glances as if restoring a lost table. The poem becomes practice, and practice becomes solace. [...]
Created on: 10/6/2025