Window on Chinese Poetry |
| Seeing a Friend Off by Li Bai Green mountains range beyond the northern wall. White water rushes round the eastern town. Right here is where, alone and restless, he begins a journey of a thousand miles. While travellers' intents are fleeting clouds, a friend's affection is a setting sun. He waves good-bye, and as he goes from here, his dappled horse lets out a lonely neigh. Adapted from a translation by Stephen Carlson |
Li Bai Poems To read a short biography of Li Bai click HERE |
"Ching Ping Tiao" by Li Bai Clouds bring back to mind her dress, the flowers her face. Winds of spring caress the rail where sparkling dew drops cluster. If you cannot see her by the jewelled mountain top, maybe on the moonlit jasper terrace you will meet her. Adapted from a translation by D. Mackintosh To read my comments and the comments of other readers on this poem, click HERE |
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"Drinking alone with the moon" by Li Bai From a pot of wine among the flowers I drank alone. There was no one with me -- till, raising my cup, I asked the bright moon to bring me my shadow and make us three. Alas, the moon was unable to drink and my shadow tagged me vacantly; but still for a while I had these friends to cheer me through the end of spring.... I sang. The moon encouraged me. I danced. My shadow tumbled after. As long as I knew, we were boon companions. And then I was drunk, and we lost one another. ...Shall goodwill ever be secure? I watch the long road of the River of Stars. Adapted from a transltion by Witter Bynner To see a comment on this poem by another reader, click HERE |
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"A farewell to Meng Haoran on his way to Yangzhou" by Li Bai You have left me behind, old friend, at the Yellow Crane Terrace, on your way to visit Yangzhou in the misty month of flowers; your sail, a single shadow, becomes one with the blue sky, till now I see only the river, on its way to heaven. Adapted from a translation by Witter Bynner To read my comment on this poem and also comment by another reader, click HERE |
"On hearing Jun play his lute" by Li Bai The monk from Shu with his green silk lute-case, walking west down Omei Mountain, has brought me by one touch of the strings the breath of pines in a thousand valleys. I hear him in the cleansing brook, I hear him in the icy bells; and I feel no change though the mountain darken and cloudy autumn heaps the sky. |
"Moon over Mountain Pass" A bright moon rising above Tian Shan lost in a vast ocean of clouds. The long wind, across the thousands upon thousands of miles blows past the Jade-Gate Pass. The army of Han has gone down the Baiteng Road, as the Barbarian hordes probe at Qinghai Bay. It is known from the battlefield few ever live to return. Men at garrison look on the border scene, home thoughts deepening sorrow on their faces. In the towered chambers tonight, ceaseless are the women's sighs. |
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"A Song of Chang-kan" by Li Bai My hair had hardly covered my forehead. I was picking flowers, playing by my door, when you, my lover, on a bamboo horse, came trotting in circles and throwing green plums. We lived near together in a lane in Ch'ang-kan, both of us young and happy-hearted. At fourteen I became your wife, so bashful that I dared not smile, and I lowered my head toward a dark corner and would not turn to your thousand calls; but at fifteen I straightened my brows and laughed, learning that no dust could ever seal our love, that even unto death I would await you by my post And would never lose heart in the tower of silent watching. Then when I was sixteen, you left on a long journey through the Gorges of Chu-tang, of rock and whirling water. And then came the fifth month, more than I could bear, and I tried to hear the monkeys in your lofty far-off sky. Your footprints by our door, where I had watched you go, were hidden, every one of them, under green moss, hidden under moss too deep to sweep away. And the first autumn wind added fallen leaves. And now, in the eighth month, yellowing butterflies hover, two by two, in our west-garden grasses and, because of all this, my heart is breaking and I fear for my bright cheeks, lest they fade. Oh, at last, when you return through the three Pa districts, send me a message home ahead! and I will come and meet you and will never mind the distance, all the way to Chang-feng Sha. (adapted from a translation by Virginia library) |
My Comment Li Bai is a very famous poet in China, with a dramatic persona all of his own, the macho, mischievous, wine-drinking story-teller. This poem is remarkable in that he puts his own persona aside and adopts the persona of a very young wife, painfully shy at first, absolutely devoted later. Li Bai masterfully captures the longing and anguish of the girl waiting ever hopefully for her husband's return. She is certain that she will "never lose heart in the tower of silent watching." The poem is really charming in the way that it refers to the way they first met as children playing. Later, moss symbolises the passing of time since he left, and the pairs of butterflies remind her of their close, loving relationship. Did he return? Merv Daw |
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