If a miraculous flower falls in the forest, but no-one sees it...
Wang River Collection no. 18
Magnolia Hollow Wang Wei The water lilies really grow on trees here! Between the hills, these pink buds bloom and splay. A cabin stands deserted; no one sees here Magnolia flowers that bloomed, then fell away. 王维 辛夷坞 木末芙蓉花,山中发红萼。 涧户寂无人,纷纷开且落。
Magnolia flowers resemble water lily flowers.
Note the first three characters of the poem: 木末芙. Wang Wei is having fun using characters that build on a single shape.
He is also recalling an image from Songs of Chu, written a thousand years earlier. In one of the poems, the author is trying to win the love of a goddess, but it seems an impossible task, like rowing a boat through the ice, gathering figs in the river, or picking water lilies from the tops of the trees…
Pei Di's poem at the same site (prose translation): The green bank merges with the spring grass;/ my prince may stay and enjoy himself./Here there are magnolia flowers,/ which from their appearance can be confused with water lilies.
Pei Di's address to "my prince" contains a pun. "Prince" is literally "grandson of the king"; and the word for king is Wang Wei's surname, 王. So the word could also mean, "the young Mr Wang."
...and no one sees it, is it any less miraculous? Apply this to us. If one's individuality or uniqueness isn't known by another, doesn't attract fame, is it less real or meaningful?
Really nice and I like how you mention the first three characters build on that single shape 木末芙. That's a genius level play on words in Chinese characters. Coincidently, it's now 木 (Thursday) in East Asia :)