Three poems on being alone

 This is the start of what I hope will be a series on the theme of loneliness and what we can learn from poetry.

These three poems are chinese, we can see in the first poem, 'I will be alone' the poet standing alone at night looking at a lake at Kuen-ming. Thinking about glories from the past, now the lake is a bare mirror for the stars and whilst there is plenty to see after the north wind blows he will be alone with unhappiness.

The second poem, 'Wild geese' takes a different perspective, it describes a house, a high tower with a woman who is all alone and she sings a song whilst playing a lute, the worst thing about being so sad is that no one understands the sorrow in her song.

WILD GEESE

FAR IN THE NORTHWEST STANDS A HOUSE, HIGH ITS TOWER IN THE CLOUDS. EMBROIDERED CURTAINS ARE AT THE WINDOWS. THE TOWER RISES IN THREE STEPS, AND FROM THE TOWER FLOATS A SONG, A SAD SONG WITH A SAD LUTE PLAYING BESIDE IT. WHO CAN THE SINGER BE?

SURELY IT IS SHE WHO HAS NO HUSBAND LEFT TO HER, NO FATHER LEFT, NO CHILD. HER SONG FOLLOWS THE WIND; IT RISES AND FALLS. WITH THE SINGING, SOBBING ... GRIEF IS VICTOR OVER HER STRONG WILL.

SHE DOES NOT SORROW THAT HER LIFE IS SAD, BUT THAT SO FEW CAN UNDERSTAND THE SORROW IN HER SONG. O, TO FLY LIKE THOSE TWO WILD GEESE, RISING WITH BEATING WINGS![Anonymous]

See the book, 'The Jade Flute' on Project Gutenberg.

The third poem by Li Po - 'Alone and drinking under the moon', suggests that there are 3 friends that we all have who will never leave - wine, the moon, our shadow.

Alone and Drinking Under the Moon (translated by Rewi Allen)

Amongst the flowers I
am alone with my pot of wine
drinking by myself; then lifting
my cup I asked the moon
to drink with me, its reflection
and mine in the wine cup, just
the three of us; then I sigh
for the moon cannot drink,

and my shadow goes emptily along
with me never saying a word;
with no other friends here, I can
but use these two for company;
in the time of happiness, I
too must be happy with all
around me; I sit and sing
and it is as if the moon

accompanies me; then if I
dance, it is my shadow that
dances along with me; while
still not drunk, I am glad
to make the moon and my shadow
into friends, but then when
I have drunk too much, we
all part; yet these are

friends I can always count on
these who have no emotion
whatsoever; I hope that one day
we three will meet again,
deep in the Milky Way.