Chasing After Flowing Clouds追云

周領順/文、譯

Clouds are still-life paintings created by the God of Heaven at His will. To the cloud-lover， the sky covered by clouds looks like a beautiful painting.

云是靜物畫，天公隨意抹。喜云者，常把云天當畫作。

Clouds are iridescent， and can appear in shades more nuanced than the seven visible hues of the rainbow， as has been portrayed in poetic lines like “The dawn clouds are an eye-dazzling spectacle” （by Wu Jun） and “The sun sets in molten gold; / The evening clouds form a jade disk.” （by Li Qingzhao）， not to mention the magnificent view described by Wang Bo： “The rainbow clouds with lonely bird together fly; / The autumn water blends with the endless blue sky.”

云有彩，七彩1顏色不為多。“朝云亂人目”（吳均），“落日熔金，暮云合璧”（李清照），更莫說王勃所描繪的“落霞與孤鶩齊飛，秋水共長天一色”的壯麗景觀了。

We tend to describe beautiful sky and clouds as “blue sky and white clouds”. However， it is a bit too stereo-typical. The phrase “blue sky and white clouds” can only be used to refer to sunny days. How about red clouds？ “The clouds turn bright-red again in the waning glow of the setting sun.” （by Shi Yan） And yellow clouds？ “Yellow clouds have been carried along by winds for thousands of miles.” （by Li Bai） In “rainbow-colored clouds spread out for miles” （by Jiang Yan）， “rainbow-colored” is used to describe the strike beauty of iridescent clouds.

人說天美、云美，常以“藍天白云”相稱，但若僅限于天之藍、云之白，未免單調了些。“藍天白云”只是對于晴好天氣的形容。紅云如何？“彤云又吐，一竿殘照”（時彥）；黃云怎樣？“黃云萬里動風色”（李白）。“云漫漫而奇色”（江淹），用“奇色”狀述云之美，則是在無奈中表現云之多彩給人的震撼之感。

Clouds appear in a variety of forms， as in the sea of clouds conjured by Li Bai： “A bright clear moon rises over the Mountain of Heaven upon a boundless hazy sea of clouds.” Or they appear thin and wispy as depicted by Han Yu：? “Then， clouds drifting， willow catkins floating， / The land is vast， the sky is high.” The characteristics of clouds change along with seasons. The poet Tao Yuanming celebrates the wondrous shapes of clouds in the summer： “Clouds in the summer are continually changing and often appear in the form of grotesque mountain peaks.” The poet Liu Che describes the grace of clouds in the autumn： “Autumn wind rises; white clouds sail across a blue sky.”

云是有形的，或壯觀如海，所以有了李白“明月出天山，蒼茫云海間”的印象，或柔細如絲，所以有了韓愈“浮云柳絮無根蒂，天地闊遠隨飛揚”的感觸。季節不同，云各有特點，陶淵明“夏云多奇峰”，描繪的是夏云的秀姿；劉徹“秋風起兮白云飛”，描繪的是秋云的灑脫。

Clouds are flowing. “Looking up I see flying clouds turn to dragons and snakes， swirling and dancing gracefully before melting in the azure sky.” （by Qin Guan） They are flowing all day long and at any moment， sometimes apparent， and sometimes unseeable. The high clouds seem to be motionless， but the low clouds are flowing like water. As a child， at summer time， looking up at the rain clouds in the sky， I would always recite the old saying： “Clouds travel southward， rains would follow; clouds travel northward， no rain comes down; clouds travel eastward， strong winds swirl; clouds travel westward， rains drown chickens.” The words are still ringing in my ears today.

云是流動的。“飛云當面化龍蛇，夭矯轉空碧”（秦觀）。云之流動，不消于一天之中、一時一刻之中，要么顯而易見，要么隱而不察。高層的云巋然不動，低層的云如行云流水2。小時候一到夏季，仰望欲雨之云都要喊上幾句“云向南，水漣漣；云向北，干研墨；云向東，刮大風；云向西，淹死雞”，至今聲猶在耳。

There are even changes in clouds that appear static. When you make a slight movement， or look away for a few seconds， the clouds look different as if they were forever changing in forms， colors and heights. The flowing clouds， aided by human imagination， produce wonderful phenomena in the sky.

即使靜景的云，也有靜中之變。只要你身子稍動，眼光就那么轉上一圈，云可就有了不一樣的觀感，形狀啊、色彩啊、高低啊，就都在變化之中。云，加上想象，不就有了魔幻般的體驗嘛。

Taking clouds as a kind of source material， you may become a master of collage art， a painter or a photographer. I often take photos of clouds and show them to people：

拿云做材料，足可成就你個拼圖大師、畫家或攝影家。我常拍……