OverviewWong Tai Sin Sign 18
- Name
- The Cuckoo's Lament
- Grade
- Poor
- Use
- Start with the poem and story, then choose the life topic that matches your question.
Sign 18
Wong Tai Sin Sign 18 · The Cuckoo's Lament
杜鵑
With blood and tears the enenkoo weeps, Full of grievance and full of sorrow deep.
Being a stranger in a strange place, He awakened from his dreams with homesick memories.
Traditional fortune poem
The Cuckoo's Lament
The cuckoo (杜鵑) in Chinese culture carries one of literature's most tragic stories. According to ancient legend, Emperor Wang of Shu fell so deeply in love that he abandoned his kingdom for romance. When natural disasters struck and his people suffered, he transformed into a cuckoo bird, forever crying out in regret. The bird's distinctive call sounds like 'bu ru gui qu' (不如歸去) — 'better to go home.' Chinese poets have used the cuckoo's cry for centuries to represent exile, regret, and the pain of being cut off from where you belong. The bird literally cries blood — its red beak and throat creating the illusion of bloody tears. This isn't just about homesickness; it's about the consequences of choices that separate us from our foundation.
Six Short Readings
Career
Career-wise, you're the cuckoo right now — feeling displaced in your professional world.READLove
The cuckoo in this verse cries from a place that isn't home, grieving something it cannot return to.READHealth
The cuckoo in this verse cries until its throat bleeds, calling out for a home it can no longer reach.READStudy
The cuckoo of this verse cries until blood mixes with its tears, a bird that once was a king and now wakes far from anything it recognises.READFamily
The cuckoo in this verse weeps blood not because it is far from home in miles, but because the home it remembers no longer answers back.READThe whole situation
Right now, you might feel like that cuckoo — displaced, crying out, unsure where you belong.READ
Career-wise, you're the cuckoo right now — feeling displaced in your professional world.READLove
The cuckoo in this verse cries from a place that isn't home, grieving something it cannot return to.READHealth
The cuckoo in this verse cries until its throat bleeds, calling out for a home it can no longer reach.READStudy
The cuckoo of this verse cries until blood mixes with its tears, a bird that once was a king and now wakes far from anything it recognises.READFamily
The cuckoo in this verse weeps blood not because it is far from home in miles, but because the home it remembers no longer answers back.READThe whole situation
Right now, you might feel like that cuckoo — displaced, crying out, unsure where you belong.READ