…Tien Shan. The two characters literally translate to sky mountain, but Tien Shan is more commonly translated as Celestial Mountains. As was mentioned in my last post, it was my grandfather who gave me this name. A few years before his passing my mother had asked him to write a poem based on my name. (My mother also asked the same for my sister.) The form of the poem is akin to acrostic (name) poetry. The two characters which make up my name start each of the two lines respectively. The two lines are meant to represent the yin and yang aspects of the personal characteristics the name represents. I recently asked for the calligraphy of the poem that my grandfather produced so that I could have it framed. My mother’s translation of the poem is what led to the discussion about strength. Although a word for word translation would maintain the poems form it would not do it justice, so here is my (attempted) interpretive translation:
Infinite as the sky, impenetrable as the earth. Clear as the mountain, serene as the sea.
I sometimes wonder if I live up to this.
