Li Bai 李白
   
You ask me why I dwell in the green mountain;

I smile and make no reply for my heart is free of care.

As the peach-blossom flows down stream and is gone into the unknown,

I have a world apart that is not among men.

山中問答

問余何意棲碧山
笑而不答心自閑
桃花流水杳然去
別有天地非人間
   
Drinking Alone under the Moon 月下獨酌
pinyin Yuè Xià Dú Zhuó
Amongst the flowers is a pot of wine, that
I pour alone but with no friend at hand
So I lift the cup to invite the shining moon,
Along with my shadow we become party of three
The moon although understands none of drinking, and
The shadow just follows my body vainly
Still I make the moon and the shadow my company
To enjoy the springtime before too late
The moon lingers while I am singing
The shadow scatters while I am dancing
We cheer in delight when being awake
We separate apart after getting drunk
Forever will we keep this unfettered friendship
Till we meet again far in the Milky Way
  
   

Amidst the Flowers a Jug of Wine

 月下獨酌
Pure wine costs, for the golden cup,

ten thousand coppers a flagon,

And a jade plate of dainty food calls for million coins.

I fling aside my chop-sticks and cup, I cannot eat nor drink...

I pull out my dagger, I peer four ways in vain.

I would cross the Yellow River, but ice chokes the ferry;

I would climb the Tai-hang Mountains,

but the sky is blind with snow..

I would sit and poise a fishing-pole, lazy by a brook --

But I suddenly dream of riding a boat, sailing for the sun...

Journeying is hard,

Journeying is hard.

There are many turings --

Which am I to follow?...

I will mount a long wind some day and break the heavy waves

And set my cloudy sail straight and bridge the deep, deep sea.

 
	花間一壺酒
	獨酌無相親
	舉杯邀明月
	對影成三人
	月既不解飲
	影徒隨我身
	暫伴月將影
	行樂須及春
	我歌月徘徊
	我舞影零亂
	醒時同交歡
	醉後各分散
	永結無情遊
	相期邈雲漢

 
 
On Climbing in Nan-king to the Terrace of Phoenixes
I met Du Fu on a mountaintop

in August when the sun was hot.

Under the shade of his big straw hat

his face was sad--

in the years since we last parted,

he'd grown wane, exhausted.

Poor old Du Fu, I thought then,

he must be agonizing over poetry again.

tr. Hamil

 

About Du Fu
Thousands of feet high towers the Yellow Mountains
With its thirty-two magnificent peaks,
Blooming like golden lotus flowers
Amidst red crags and rock columns.
Once I was on its lofty summit,
Admiring Tianmu Pine below.
The place is still traceable where the immortal
Before ascending to heaven made elixir out of jade.
Now you embark on your journey there alone---
Another Wen Boxue* I happened to meet---
Who've been to Five Mountains for beauty of nature,
Leaving behind countless ranges of hills.
Homeward you go back to White Goose Ridge,
Back to drink from your Elixir Well.
If by chance I pay you a visit,
I expect to be met by your light carriage.
Eastwards from Lingyang you bend your steps,
And pick your way through fragrant bushes,
Many a stream and many a ford,
Peaks upon peaks shutting out the sky
That's where I'll call on you some other day
Across a bridge that spans cliffs like a rainbow.

*Wen Boxue, mentioned by Zhuang Zi as a wise scholar contemporary with Confucius.

 
 

送溫處士歸黃山白鵝峰舊居

 

黃山四千仞，三十二蓮峰。
 丹崖夾石柱，菡萏金芙蓉。
 伊昔升絕頂，下窺天目松。
 仙人煉玉處，羽化留餘蹤。
 亦聞溫伯雪，獨往今相逢。
 採秀辭五岳，攀延歷萬重。
 歸休白鵝嶺，渴飲丹砂井。
 鳳吹我時來，雲車爾當整。
 去去陵陽東，行行芳桂叢。
 迴溪十六度，碧嶂盡晴空。
 他日還相訪，乘橋躡綵虹。

 
   
Li Po : Wikipedia  
More Li Bai Poems (English & Chinese)  
   
Selected International Poems