With my mood at its height I wield my brush
And the Five Hills quake;
When the poem is done, my laughter soars
To the Blue Isles[32] of the sky.
And the Five Hills quake;
When the poem is done, my laughter soars
To the Blue Isles[32] of the sky.
Li Po
Send me a letter and let me know in time
When your boat will be going through the three gorges of Pa.
I will come to meet you as far as ever you please,
Even to the dangerous sands of Ch'ang-f? ng.
[23] It is hard to believe that "bed" or "chair" is meant, as hitherto
translated. "Trellis" is, however, only a guess.
[24] A man had promised to meet a girl under a bridge. She did not
come, but although the water began to rise, he trusted so firmly in her
word, that he clung to the pillars of the bridge and waited till he was
drowned.
[25] So called because a woman waited there so long for her husband
that she turned into stone.
[26] Quotation from the Yangtze boatman's song:
"When Yen-yu is as big as a man's hat
One should not venture to make for Ch'u-t'ang. "
VII. 4. RIVER SONG
Of satin-wood our boat is made,
Our oars of ebony;[27]
Jade pipes and gold flutes
Play at stern and prow.
A thousand gallons of red wine
We carry in the ship's hold;
With girls on board at the waves' will
We are glad to drift or stay.
Even the rishi[28] had to wait
For a yellow crane to ride;
But the sailor[29] whose heart had no guile
Was followed by the white gulls.
Ch'u P'ing's[30] prose and verse
Hang like the sun and moon;[31]
The king of Ch'u's arbours and towers
Are only hummocks in the ground.
With my mood at its height I wield my brush
And the Five Hills quake;
When the poem is done, my laughter soars
To the Blue Isles[32] of the sky.
Riches, Honour, Triumph, Fame,
Than that _you_ should long endure,
It were likelier the stream of the River Han
Should flow to the North-West!
[27] A phrase from the Li Sao.
[28] Tou Tz? -an, who was carried to Heaven by a yellow crane near
Wu-ch'ang.
[29] A story from Lieh Tzu.
[30] _I. e. _, Ch'u Yuan.
[31] Practically a quotation from Ch'u Yuan's "Life," by Ss? -ma Ch'ien.
[32] Fairyland, sometimes thought of as being in the middle of the sea,
sometimes (as here) in the sky.
XIII. 11. SENT TO THE COMMISSARY YUAN OF CH'IAO CITY, IN MEMORY OF
FORMER EXCURSIONS
Do you remember how once at Lo-yang, Tung Tsao-ch'in built us a
wine-tower south of the T'ien-ching Bridge?
With yellow gold and tallies of white jade we bought songs and
laughter, and we were drunk month after month, with no thought of kings
and princes, though among us were the wisest and bravest within the
Four Seas, and men of high promotion.
