My Gift to Wanglun
As I, Li Bai, was about to leave by boat
Alas, I heard singing on the shore
Though a thousand feet deep, Peach Blossom Lake may be,
It compares not to Wang’s kinship to me.
Original Chinese Characters
赠汪伦
李白乘舟将欲行
忽闻岸上踏歌声
桃花潭水深千尺
不及汪伦送我行
Pinyin
lǐ bái chéng zhōu jiāngyù xíng
hū wén ànshàng tà gēshēng
táohuātán shuǐshēn qiān chǐ
bùjí wānglún sòng wǒ xíng
Peach Blossom Spring
Li Bai’s reference to Peach Blossom Spring (桃花潭, Táohuātán) draws on an earlier legend of The Peach Blossom Land, written by Tao Yuanming (circa 421 AD).
The story is about the chance discovery of a perfect utopia where people live in harmony with nature, unaware of the outside world for centuries. A fisherman accidentally stumbles on the beautiful spot, stays for a week, and then leaves marking the way with signs. All attempts to rediscover this Shangri-la are futile.
Wang Lun
Who, pray tell, is the friend Wang Lun (汪伦)?
My guess is Wang Wei, a close colleague with whom he shared many nights of revelry. The Chinese character 伦, Lun in Pinyin, translates to relationship, kinship, or peer. Thus, the phrase is my peer, my kin, my friend Wang.
There is an often repeated story that Li Bai, who was fond of drinking to exess and talking to the moon, drowned after falling from his boat in the Yangtze River when he tried to embrace a reflection of the moon in the water.
Wang Wei’s Farewell to Li Bai
Wang Wei , The Farewell (ca. 750 CE)
Dismounting, I offer my friend a cup of wine,
I ask what place he is headed to.
He says he has not achieved his aims,
Is retiring to the southern hills.
Now go, and ask me nothing more,
White clouds will drift on for all time.
100 Tang Poems 