Good friends, Why waste your time in wailing In sympathy for me? Surely, in time, I’ll be strong enough To move about a bit. To get about, On land, there are carrying-chairs, On water, boats. So, if I can keep my courage, And carry on, What need have I of feet? Keep Calm and Carry…
Category: Happiness
Bitter Love – Li Bai
A beautiful woman, unfurls the pearly curtain Quietly sitting, how troubled her brow I see the tears now, glistening on her cheeks Still I don’t know who she hates. Love and Hate Love, it is said, is the strongest emotion. But hate must be a close second. Li Bai sees a beautiful woman with tear…
A flower is no flower – Bai Juyi
A flower is no flower mist no mist that which comes at midnight leaves at dawn, arrives like a spring dream – for a while leaves like a morning cloud – nowhere to be found On the meaning of life Perhaps because his mother died, caused by falling into a well while looking at some…
Li Bai, The Four Seasons, Ballads
Li Bai has created a series of four love ballads set to the four seasons. The subject is women, the theme is love, devotion, and longing. The Four Seasons In Spring, the lovely Lo Fo of the western land of Chin plucks mulberry leaves by the blue waterside, her white arms gleam against the green…
Li Bai’s Ballads of Four Seasons: Spring
A story of love, honor and devotion, the lovely Lo Foh
Part 3, Waking from a Stupor on a Spring Day (春日醉起言志) Li Bai
Touched by the beauty of the bird’s song, I sigh, Turning to my wine, I pour Awaiting the moon with a grand song, I sing Singing to the end, unmoved Li Bai, Waking from a Stupor on a Spring Day, third and final verse Life, a story in three acts Is this the way life…
Waking from a Stupor on a Spring Day (春日醉起言志) Li Bai
Life in this world is but a dream, Why spoil it with work or worry? So, saying, I was drunk all day long, now Helplessly lying on the porch at my front door… Waking from a Stupor on a Spring Day (春日醉起言志), Li Bai Chinese and pinyin 處世若大夢, 胡爲勞其生. 所以終日醉, 頹然臥前楹. Chǔshì ruò dà mèng,…
Princess Jinching
Princess Jinching (金城公主, 699-740) was the great-granddaughter of the Emperor Gaozong and the Empress Wu Zetian. She was adopted by the ruling Emperor Zhongzong. During peace negotiations between the Chinese and Tibetans, it was agreed that she would become the bride of the Tibetan emperor in a marriage alliance between the two powers. In 710,…
Beyond the Border – Wang Zhihuan
Beyond the Border Where the Yellow River in the far white clouds is arising, A walled fortress stands alone amidst the vast peaks abiding, Under a willow tree, the Qiang flute is sighing, That Spring never blows through the Yumen (Jade) Pass. Understanding Wang Zhihuan’s poem In 710, the young Princess Jinching, adopted daughter to…
Ascending Stork Tower, Wang Zhihuan
On The Stork Tower By Wang Zhihuan To the furthest mountain, the bright sun shines To the distant sea, the Yellow River flows To get a better view Climb another floor Notes on the poem Only six of Wang’s poems survive today, two are part of the 300 Tang Poems, including “Ascending Stork Tower for…
100 Tang Poems 