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English Translation:
Drinking Alone with the Moon (Li Bai, 701-762 AD, China)
From a wine pot amidst the flowers,
I drink alone without partners.
To invite the moon I raise my cup.
We're three, as my shadow shows up.
Alas, the moon doesn't drink.
My shadow follows but doesn't think.
Still for now I have these friends,
To cheer me up until the spring ends.
I sing; the moon wanders.
I dance; the shadow scatters.
Awake, together we have fun.
Drunk, separately we're gone.
Let's be boon companions forever,
Pledging, in heaven, we'll be together.
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another translation
Drinking Alone Under The Moon
Li Bai
Among the flowers from a pot of wine
I drink alone beneath the bright moonshine.
I raise my cup to invite the moon, who blends
Her light with my shadow and we're three friends.
The moon does not know how to drink her share;
In vain my shadow follows me here and there.
Together with them for the time I stay
And make merry before spring's spend away.
I sing the moon to linger with my song;
My shadow disperses as I dance along.
Sober, we three remain cheerful and gay;
Drunken, we part and each goes his way.
Our friendship will outshine all earthly love;
Next time we'll meet beyond the stars above.
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Over a thousand poems are attributed to him, but the authenticity of many of these is uncertain. He is best known for his yue fu poems and "old style" poems, which are intense and often fantastic. He is often associated with Taoism: there is a strong element of this in his works, both in the sentiments they express and in their spontaneous tone. Nevertheless, his gufeng ("ancient airs") might adopt the perspective of the Confucian moralist.
Much like the genius of Mozart, there exist many legends on how effortlessly Li Bai composed his poetry; he was said to be able to compose at an astounding speed, without correction. His heavily favored gufeng fomrs due to their stylsitic freedom (ui.e. yuefu) as well as thejueju form(five- or seven-character quatrain), of which he composed some 160 pieces. Li Bai's use of language impresses through his extravagance of imagination and a direct communication of his free-spirited persona with the reader. Li Bai's interactions with nature, friendship, his love of wine and his acute observations of life inform his best poems. Some, like Changgan xing (translated by Ezra Pound as The River Merchant's Wife: A Letter,[2] record the hardships or emotions of common people. He also wrote a number of very oblique, allusive poems on women.
In his poems, Li Bai tried to avoid the use of obscure words and historical references. Unlike other ancient Chinese poets such as Du Fu, Li Bai had no need to prove himself to the public; instead, he could afford to concentrate on communicating his genuine feelings to the readers. His ability to create extraordinary out of ordinary was an unusual gift among his contemporaries, and was most likely the reason why he was considered the "Poem-God". The fact that his Chinese nickname was "??" (shixian, which translates literally into transcendent/immortal of poetry) should itself prove it. The spontaneity of his language combined with the extravagance of his imagination distinguished Li Bai from any other poets in the Chinese history.
As one of the many followers of Lao Zi and a practitioner of Taoism in Tang Dynasty (Xuanzong included) and, above all, a free-spirited person, Li Bai paid no respect to Confucius and his ideology. Consequently, he has often been attacked by the Neo-Confucian "moralists," ever since the Song Dynasty. Among the common people in China, however, Li Bai is unquestionably the most beloved figure in Chinese poetry.
One of Li Bai's most famous poems is Drinking Alone by Moonlight (????, pinyin: Yuè Xià Dú Zhuó), which is a good example of some of the most famous aspects of his poetry -- a very spontaneous poem, full of natural imagery and anthropomorphism. Li Bai actually wrote several poems with the same title; Arthur Waley's version of the most famous reads:[5]
?????? A cup of wine, under the flowering trees;
?????? I drink alone, for no friend is near.
?????? Raising my cup I beckon the bright moon,
?????? For her, with my shadow, will make three people.
?????? The moon, alas, is no drinker of wine;
?????? Listless, my shadow creeps about at my side.
?????? Yet with the moon as friend and the shadow as slave
?????? I must make merry before the Spring is spent.
?????? To the songs I sing the moon flickers her beams;
?????? In the dance I weave my shadow tangles and breaks.
?????? While we were sober, three shared the fun;
?????? Now we are drunk, each goes their way.
?????? May we long share our eternal friendship,
?????? And meet at last on the Cloudy River of the sky.
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| A Chinese Poem - ???? "Drinking Alone with the Moon" |
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