We’ll wash away the woe of a thousand years;
We’ll linger to drink a hundred cups of wine.
What a fine night to have a heart-to-heart talk!
Under the bright moonlight we can’t go to bed.
Drunk, we lie in the empty mountain;
Heaven and earth are our quilt and pillow.
涤荡千古愁，留连百壶饮。
良宵宜清谈，皓月未能寝。
醉来卧空山，天地即衾枕。
Composed during Li Bai's seclusion on Mount Lu, this poem reflects his lifelong pursuit of achievement amid repeated setbacks. After being summoned to Chang'an by Emperor Xuanzong during the Tianbao era (742–756 CE) with high hopes of assisting governance, Li Bai's unyielding nature and refusal to flatter powerful officials led to his dismissal through slander. Wandering thereafter, he retained ambition but never realized political aspirations, harboring inevitable frustration. During his Mount Lu retreat, he sought solace in landscape and wine, using nature's vastness and wine's mild intoxication to ease inner turmoil. This poem, born from such context, expresses both bold liberation through drink and unspoken regret over unfulfilled dreams, alongside yearning for cosmic harmony.
Classical Chinese poetry thrives on Concision and Ambiguity. Without tense or number, the words create a timeless space where the reader becomes the co-creator of the poem's meaning.
Look for Contrasts: light and shadow, movement and stillness. Don't just translate the words; feel the Yijing (artistic conception) that lingers long after the last character.
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