劉基詩 A poem about a mythological story

【About the author】

祝允明，字希哲，號枝山。因生而右手有六指，自號「枝指生」。明代文學家，書法家，長洲（今江蘇蘇州）人。當時與徐禎卿、唐寅、文徵明號稱「吳中四才子」。〈前後赤壁賦〉是宋朝蘇軾的作品。本帖是祝枝山的草書代表作。此帖用筆多取偏側之勢，點畫硬挺，結構縱橫多姿，氣勢縱逸豪放。

Inside Story

This calligraphy was transcribed from a poem written by Liu Chi. The poem is about a mythological story. It begins with the legend of Panku, depicts how he initiated the sky and the ground as well as how he formed the sun, the moon, stars, mountains, wind and land. After Panku initiated the sky and the ground Tienti ordered two ghosts, Chiehlin and Yuyi, to control the motion of the sun and the moon. The priority of the poem lies in the optimism of the two ghosts. Despite the fact Tienti distrusted them, restrained their mobility and sent them to prison, which was caused by misunderstanding, they waited for Tienti to ease his anger and leave behind his misunderstanding with them so that they could wander around between the sky and the ground like before. In fact, the hidden message of the poem is to reflect Chu Yunming’s loyalty to his country and the emperor.