Fine Mo-Li Flower (Ian Inkster April 2014) Poem by Dr Ian Inkster

Fine Mo-Li Flower (Ian Inkster April 2014)



The Fine Mo-Li Flower (words and music Dr Ian Inkster April 2014, Kaohsiung, Taiwan)

This branch of fresh flowers so delightful they are
To my home one day they dropped from afar
I the owner will wear them but not out of doors
Yet I will hold these fresh flowers and be happy.

The white jasmine fragrance is sweet to me now
It has come from nowhere and I may never know how
I the owner must paint this the whitest of snow
Pressed to me close for to hand to my lady.

This fragment of nature so secret and pure
Like the fairest my mistress must surely endure
I the owner must give to be pure of another
For my life without love would be empty.

How delightful this Branch of the fine Mo-Li flower
In the full plot of flowers blowing free by the hour
I the owner will wear this fresh gathered branch
Wear it yet fear, the flower once seen, men will envy.

Ian Inkster

Fine Mo-Li Flower (Ian Inkster April 2014)
Tuesday, April 18, 2017
Topic(s) of this poem: reflections,tradition
POET'S NOTES ABOUT THE POEM
The Fine Mo-Li Flower (Ian Inkster)

One of the most unexpected and effective elements in the April 2017 meeting between President Xi of China and President Trump of the US, was its seeming informality, heightened and exemplified when Trump's granddaughter sang the song of the Mo-Li Flower(Jasmine) to the Chinese guests as the American President sat modestly (and silently!) by. Many outside of Chinese culture may have missed some of the significance here. The Mo-Li song in various versions is an invocation of the greatness and sophistication of the Chinese past, and may readily be seen as both an acknowledgment of past greatness and an indication of things to come - the forging of a new Chinese presence based on a merging of Chinese traditions, recent communist history, and the breakthroughs of our present time. And here we have this global moment of the song being sung in one Chinese version by the granddaughter of the American President!

In the eighteenth century when it was composed as verse, it was not intended merely as a kid's school song, but as something more central to Chinese manner and sensibility. So, Trump really did pull out his trump-card at a peak moment with great effect.

This song and poem for PoemHunter is my English-language modern version of verses written in Imperial Qing China during the 18th Century. The flower is the white jasmine, the cultural flower of tradional China, the flower of jasmine tea. It is a powerful evocation of traditional China just prior to the coming of Western industrialisation and militarism, a westernism disdained as inferior and barbaric by Peking but soon the major threat to Chinese dynastic continuity and economic security. The scene as I interpret the original Chinese verse is that of the garden setting of a mandarin scholar bureaucrat, reflecting upon the changing scene, calmed by the gift from nature, enjoying the memories of his lover, anxious concerning the unknown that appears to be encroaching. Change is not welcomed.

I have kept the music relatively simple with only a Taiwanese ukulele to accompany the voice. The recording - made in Kaohsiung, Taiwan - is full of echo and vague background sounds of nature, wind, perhaps waves on the sea.


The original verses were written in the 18th century (1700s) in mainland China. It has been sung in many forms by generations of Taiwanese and Chinese children, and some years ago a version was recorded by a Swedish singer I think in English but in Taiwan - I think it sold well.

BUT, it seems not to have survived in a form most likely intended by the author of the 18th century! I think the theme has yet to be produced properly, that is to be both traditional and popular! It is not meant as a school kids song, but as a ballad, perhaps sung by an-old style scholar Mandarin, as he reflected on his life and his love way back in past times. So I wrote the song entirely based on that image.

There is a great deal of controversy over the original meanings and verses of the song of the Mo-li flower. Academics have debated the topic for years. I base my own original new verse on fragments of 3 lines, including the idea in the last line, that ‘men might envy'. The original Chinese characters did not make it so clear that the translation or meaning should be ‘envy' exactly, so I have used it in literary context to express doubt and apprehension. Fear of others? Fear of what was coming for Imperial China in the approaching years of the 19th century?

I am here using the ukulele very simply as almost a Chinese instrument, and just a simple version of my voice but in a high-register, which the song needs.

Ian Inkster, London April 2017
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