So blessed is she with elegant grace,
So humbled for oranges the mundane.
Who’d know she’s away from her own world,
To be found her virtues more fair and pure?
A small branch is plucked with twin fruit on,
A picture of the Emperor n Yuhuan after wine.
I’d like to open the ginkgoes with gentle care,
To share with my love the fresh taste with flair.
风韵雍容未甚都，尊前甘橘可为奴。
谁怜流落江湖上，玉骨冰肌未肯枯。
谁教并蒂连枝摘，醉后明皇倚太真。
居士擘开真有意，要吟风味两家新。
- to the tune of Ruizhegu
ginkgo fruit: the symbolic implication associated with nobility, well-bred, well-designed, profound love that stands the test of many life cycles thanks to the fair skin, delicate petite oval shape, and the loving pair nuts inside the fruit. It’s said to be the only survivor in the family 290 million years ago, also called ‘the living fossil’. It has a longer life span than all other trees. The one still thriving is over 1400 years old in the ancient capital of the Tang Dynasty, planted by the 2nd emperor Li Shimin himself in Chang’an ( today’s Xi’an).
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