Past and present. How will it be from now on?
*A poem
In the autumn of the year jen-hsu
A friend and I went out on a boat
that passes the Red Cliff
The breeze is fresh and the water is unruffled
As I drank with my friend
I hummed a poem and a song
A phrase on its strange beauty
The moon rises from the eastern hills and wanders among the stars
White dew above the river draws a line beneath the sky
Letting the boat go where it pleases
We drifted over the endless flow
Sailing the void and riding the wind
We not know where to stop
Leaving the world and standing alone
We sprout wings to join the immortals*
*As I drink the wine
I compose a song
Oars of orchid wood row
through the moon's drifting light
Thoughts fly far away
for my loved one in a corner of the sky*
*A friend plays a flute
harmonising my song
The flute makes a whiling sound
resenting, longing, lamenting, protesting
trailing the night like endless silk*
Li Bai
Past and present. How will it be from now on?
*A poem
In the autumn of the year jen-hsu
A friend and I went out on a boat
that passes the Red Cliff
The breeze is fresh and the water is unruffled
As I drank with my friend
I hummed a poem and a song
A phrase on its strange beauty
The moon rises from the eastern hills and wanders among the stars
White dew above the river draws a line beneath the sky
Letting the boat go where it pleases
We drifted over the endless flow
Sailing the void and riding the wind
We not know where to stop
Leaving the world and standing alone
We sprout wings to join the immortals*
*As I drink the wine
I compose a song
Oars of orchid wood row
through the moon's drifting light
Thoughts fly far away
for my loved one in a corner of the sky*
*A friend plays a flute
harmonising my song
The flute makes a whiling sound
resenting, longing, lamenting, protesting
trailing the night like endless silk*
Li Bai
