#lu you

[arrghigiveup]

[Source]

[dykesbat]

FUCK.

[klavier]

source: https://twitter.com/XiranJayZhao/status/1299148337774354432

[confusedbyinterface]

The year is 1183. Down On His Luck scholar-official Lu You gets a cat because rats keep munching on his books. 1/?

From a twitter thread by @xiranjayzhao​

[fwoopersongs]

Lu You and his Cats

陆游 (Lu You, 1125–1209) was a prominent patriotic poet of China's Southern Song Dynasty. He was also apparently a crazy cat mom. This is where I shall capture his tributes to his kitties as I come across them. (Will update this post with every new poem.)

Credits to Luna from danmei discord who brought this to my attention. 

Credits to Emperor Huizong of Song for the painting

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Fourth day of the Eleventh Month, Strong Wind & Heavy Rain

其一 | Part 1 风卷江湖雨暗村， 四山声作海涛翻 fēng juǎn jiānghú yǔ àn cūn  sì shān shēng zuò hǎi tāo fān Wind whirls across the waters, bringing rain; the village darkens. Surrounding mountains resound as if with the crashing of waves.

溪柴火软蛮毡暖， 我与狸奴不出门 xī cháihuǒ ruǎn mán zhān nuǎn, wǒ yǔ lí nú bù chūmén With driftwood fire and soft fur blanket enveloping us in warmth, me and kitty won’t be stepping out the door.

其二 | Part 2

[karmakaze]

Tweet: "you think humans have fundamentally changed during the past thousand years?? wrong. here is a very relatable poem written in 1192 by Song dynasty poet Lu You (who was 67 when he wrote this so i need you to imagine that too when you picture the poem)"

Poem: A Rainstorm on the Fourth Day of Eleventh Month (1) by Lu You (1192 Wind sweeps the world and rain darken the village, Rumbles roll off the mountains like ocean waves churning. The furnace is soothing and the rug is warm, Me and my cat are not leaving the house.

[thanatophobia-thoughts]

XIRAN (Hiatus) on Twitter

“decided to do a separate thread for this so here we go: how Song dynasty poet Lu You poem-liveblogged his descent from cat owner to cat slave 800 years ago The year is 1183. Down On His Luck scholar-official Lu You gets a cat because rats keep munching on his books. 1/?”

This is absolutely worth the read. 

The tl;dr, Chinese poet Lu You got a cat to protect his books. The cat does a very good job, and gets spoiled for it. He gets other cats throughout his life for the same purpose, but he falls in love with all of them, and doesn’t mind too much if they end up, well, lazy and spoiled. 

[flufflybunnypants]

I will never stop being in love with all the poets who looked at their cats and thought “That’s my muse!”

From Lu You writing “It’s so soft to touch and warm to hold in bed / So brave and capable that it has ousted the rat nest” to Czeslaw Milosz writing “My valiant helper, a small sized-tiger/ Sleeps sweetly on my desk, by the computer” I’m just very in love with their love for their cats.

I’m not enough of a poet to put into words how dearly I love Poppy, but my cat photography isn’t shabby.

She is indeed my small tiger, so brave and capable.