The fault is mine The fault is mine, I drank, I’m drunk, and now I’m in this sorry state. Albert Einstein famously said, “Doing the same thing, expecting a different result is the very definition of insanity.” And drinking too much leads to a familiar crazy result. Last night I drank too much with friends….
Tag: Li Bai
Spring Again — 2023
Chang’an, 740s Li Bai, the Tang dynasty’s new, young Rock Star poet, is at the imperial court in Chang’an, writing poems to please the Emperor Xuanzong and his concubine, the lovely Yang Guifei. An earlier translation, Spring Thoughts. In SpringIn Yan the grass is thin as silk and blue,In Qin the mulberry bows down with…
Quiet Night Thought – Li Bai
Quiet Night Thought At the foot of my bed, moonlight Yes, I suppose there is frost on the ground. Lifting my head I gaze at the bright moon Bowing my head, thinking of home. Jìng yè sī Chuáng qián míngyuè guāng Yí shì dìshang shuāng Jǔtóu wàng míngyuè Dītóu sī gùxiāng 靜夜思 床前明月光 疑是地上霜 舉頭望明月…
Autumn Wind
In Li Bai’s Autumn Wind, lovers know that love hurts. For me, it is late Autumn 2022, an Autumn wind comes again. The leaves outside my window have begun to fall. (I originally translated this poem in 2019). Years pass by too quickly. Oh, I miss the warm summer days, as autumn leaves start to…
Part 2, Waking from a Stupor on a Spring Day (春日醉起言志) Li Bai
Yesterday, we left super-poet Li Bai alone on the porch, drunk, clutching a column, lying in a stupor after a night of revelry and wine. Morning breaks and he comes to his senses, or does he? Yesterday’s verse Coming to my sense, I see the courtyard In the midst of the flowers a bird sings…
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,…
Spring Thoughts – Li Bai
Spring Thoughts In Yan, grass grows like the bluest silk thread In Qin, mulberries hang low on branches of green My Lord, why do you think of coming home? Now, when I am heart-broken and sad Oh Spring Breeze, that I do not know Why part the silk curtains of my bed? Translating Li Bai’s…
Spring Thoughts – Li Bai
Draft – simple thought, tough poem to tackle, let me come back and get it right. Spring Thoughts In Yan, like blue silk threads, the grass grows In Qin, it is said, mulberry leaves of emerald green hang low Somewhere, a husband dreams of returning homeTo his heartbroken wife whoFeels the spring breeze strangeAs it…
Sitting Alone on Jingtingshan – Li Bai
In the distance, a flock of birds flying high Above, a lonely cloud drifts idly by Fondly looking (相看) at each other, neither one growing tired, And all there is, is Jingtingshan. Beauty is its own reward Have we not all experienced the glory of nature, a mesmerizing view of the Grand Canyon, the spectacular…
Spring Night, I hear a flute – Li Bai
Draft… Spring Night, I Hear the Flute From whose house does the sound of a jade flute flies Scattered by the Spring breeze filling Luoyang? In the middle of the night I hear the willow unfolding Who does not feel these old garden feelings In 725 or thereabouts, while in his mid-twenties, Li Bai left…
100 Tang Poems 