Three Poems by Li Po (李白) in New English Translations

Visiting the Monk of Mt Daitian Without Finding Him

Dog’s bark through water’s sound
Peach blossoms the dew weighs down
In deep woods, glimpses of deer
At brook’s edge, no noon chimes
Wild bamboo part blue mists
Spring falls from emerald cliffs
No one knows where he is gone
Weary, I rest against some pines

訪戴天山道士不遇

犬吠水聲中
桃花帶露濃
樹深時見鹿
溪午不聞鐘
野竹分青霧
飛泉褂碧峰
無人知所去
愁倚兩三松


Mid Mountain: With a Hermit, Drinking Together

Two men drinking together. Mountain flowers blossom.
One cup, one cup, again another cup.
I’m drunk, on the edge of sleep – you’d better go.
At dawn, if you desire, come back with your guitar.

山中與幽人對酌

兩人對酌山花開
一杯一杯復一杯
我醉欲眠君且去
明朝有意包琴來


Mid Mountain: Question and Answer

You ask me why I dwell on the emerald mountain.
I laugh, without answering, my heart at ease.
Peach flowers in the water’s current linger into vanishing.
Heaven and earth are different here than in the world of men.

山中問答

問余何意棲碧山
笑而不答心自閑
桃花流水窅然去
別有天地非人間


Translated by Andrew Haley


Li Po or Li Bai (李白) the Banished Immortal, celebrated Tang Dynasty poet, was born in 701 in present day Kyrgyzstan to Chinese exiles. He achieved great acclaim before his death, despite a life of itinerant wandering. One of the Eight Immortals of Wine, he was a legendary drinker and is said to have drowned drunk in the Yangtze trying to embrace the reflection of the moon. He was returning to his childhood home in Sichuan Province after a thirty-five year absence. He was 61.