A pot of wine among flowers.
I alone, drinking, without a companion.
I lift the cup and invite the bright moon.
My shadow opposite certainly makes us three.
But the moon cannot drink,
and my shadow follows the motions of my body in vain.
For the briefest time are the moon and my shadow my companions.
Oh, be joyful! One must make the most of Spring.
I sing— the moon walks forward rhythmically;
I dance, and my shadow shatters and becomes confused.
In my waking moments, we are happily blended.
When I am drunk, we are divided from one another and scattered.
For a long time I shall be obliged to wander without intention;
But we will keep our appointment by the far-off Cloudy River.
If Heaven did not love wine,
there would be no Wine Star in Heaven.
If Earth did not love wine,
there should be no Wine Springs on Earth.
Why then be ashamed before Heaven to love wine?
I have heard that clear wine is like the Sages;
again it is said that thick wine is like the Virtuous Worthies.
Wherefore it appears that we have swallowed both Sages and Worthies.
Why should we strive to be Gods and Immortals?
Three cups, and one can perfectly understand the Great Tao;
A gallon, and one is in accord with all nature.
Only those in the midst of it can fully comprehend the joys of wine;
I do not proclaim them to the sober.
You ask why I make my home in the mountain forest,
and I smile, and am silent,
and even my soul remains quiet;
it lives in the other world which no one owns.
The peach trees blossom. The water flows.
The universe is a lodging house for the myriad things,
and time itself is a traveling guest of the centuries.
This floating life is like a dream.How often can one enjoy oneself?
It is for this reason that the ancient people held candles to celebrate the night.
Li Bai of Jiangyou, Sichuan [Szechwan] province, Chinese Empire; Anlu [now in Hubei [Hupeh] province; Shantung; lower Yangtze;Chang-an; Honan; Yeh-lang; Yangtze; Jiujiang; Dangtu, Anhui province [Tang T’u, Anhwei] (Li T’ai-po, Li Po, Li Bo, Li Pai,Li Taibai, Qinglian Jushi, 701-762). Tr. by Amy Lowell and Florence Ayscough. The ‘Cloudy River’ is the Milky Way, the abode of the dead. Cited by Fèlix Nesci in Spacebook.
