Li Po - Drinking under the moon - a series

 These poems are translated by Robert Payne in collaboration with Chinese scholars. I love the third poem, probably the only hangover poem I know!

Drinking Alone Under Moonlight

 

Holding a jug of wine among the flowers,

And drinking alone, not a soul keeping me company,

I raise my cup and invite the moon to drink with me,

And together with my shadow we are three.

But the moon does not know the joy of drinking,

And my shadow only follows me about.

Nevertheless I shall have them as my companions,

For one should enjoy life at such a time.

The moon loiters as I sing my songs,

My shadow looks confused as I dance.

I drink with them when I am awake

And part with them when I am drunk.

Henceforward may we always be feasting,

And may we meet in the Cloudy River of Heaven.

*Cloudy River of Heaven - milky way

Drinking Alone in Moonlight

 

If Heaven had no love for wine,

There would be no Wine Star in Heaven;

If earth had no love for wine,

There would be no city called Wine Springs.

Since Heaven and Earth love wine,

I can love wine without shaming Heaven.

 

They say that clear wine is a saint,

Thick wine follows the way of the sage.

I have drunk deep of saint and sage:

What need then to study the spirits and fairies?

With three cups I penetrate the Great Tao.

Take a whole jugful – I and the world are one.

Such things as I have dreamed in wine

Shall never be told to the sober.

Awakening from Drunkenness on a Spring Day

 

Our life in the world is only a great dream.

Why should I toile my life away?

Let me be drunk all day,

Let me lie at the foot of the house-gate.

When I wake up, I blink at the garden trees:

A lonely bird is singing amid the flowers.

I demand of the bird what season it is:

He answers: “The spring wind makes the mango-bird sing.”

Moved by his song, I sigh my heart away

And once more pour myself wine.

So I sing wildly till the bright moon shines.

The song over, all my senses are numb.