Lived around 905 AD. His courtesy name was Tingbao, and he was from Wu (the note of the Complete Tang Poems says: or he was from Guanyou). His birth and death years are unknown, but he lived around the middle of the Tianyou period of Emperor Ai of the Tang Dynasty. Good at poetry. In the second year of Dashun (891 AD), he became a Jinshi. In the late Tang Dynasty, King Qian of Wuyue, who lived in Zhejiang, made a decision that was very unpopular: he drowned the famous scholar Wu Renbi in the Qiantang River! This was one of the biggest mistakes King Wuyue made in his life, and Wu Renbi, a Jinshi in the late Tang Dynasty, simply rejected King Wuyue’s invitations repeatedly and refused to join his court to serve this king who was not the orthodox ruler of the Tang Dynasty. Wu Renbi described himself as aloof and wrote the poem “Imperium” to express his ambition. The poem says: “When the fragrant red and tender green are blooming, the cold butterflies and hungry bees are unaware. Where is the best place to see it at this time? The morning sun is just rising on the green sycamore branches.” Impatiens is shaped like a phoenix, and the poet himself is like this proud and noble divine bird, who will not rest unless it is on the sycamore branches. The poem may also ridicule the King of Wu Yue as “a cold butterfly and a hungry bee”, or the idea of bees and butterflies is just the poet’s careful observation – Impatiens is rarely visited by insects, so the ancients believed: “This grass is not infested with insects, and bees and butterflies don’t come near it, so I’m afraid it can’t be poisonous.”
约公元九零五年前后在世。字廷宝，吴人（全唐诗注云：或云关右人）。生卒年均不详，约唐哀帝天佑中前后在世。工诗。大顺二年，（公元八九一年）登进士第。唐末年间，偏安浙江的吴越王钱，做了件大失人心的决定：将名士吴仁璧沉到钱塘江里去！这是吴越王平生所铸的大错之一，而唐末进士吴仁璧，只不过是屡次三番拒绝了吴越王的邀约，不肯入其幕府，为这个并非大唐正统的君王效力。吴仁璧自喻清高，写下《凤仙花》诗以名志，诗云：“香红嫩绿正开时，冷蝶饥蜂两不知。此际最宜何处看，朝阳初上碧梧枝。”凤仙花形如凤凰，诗人自己就像这孤傲而高洁的神鸟，非梧桐枝不栖。诗句里或许还把吴越王讥笑为“冷蝶饥蜂”，抑或，蜂蝶之说，只是诗人的观察入微——凤仙花少有昆虫光顾，以至古人认为：“此草不生虫蠹，蜂蝶亦不近，恐亦不能无毒也。”
《凤仙花》 吴仁璧
香红嫩绿正开时，冷蝶饥蜂两不知。
此际最宜何处看，朝阳初上碧梧枝。
Garden Balsam
Wu Renbi
She is attired in redolent red and tender green during her efflorescence,
While the chilly butterflies and hungry bees are both unaware of her presence.
Where to view her charms for the sake of appreciation?
Chinese parasol illumined by the early morn sunbeams in irradiation.
