Li Bai  

    
Poet and Soldier
b. 701 AD ~ d. 762 AD
...also known as Li Po







Sunlight begins to fade
mist fills the flowers
the moon as white as silk
weeps and I can not sleep








Wealth and honor
Were always like this
You strive and strive
But what do you seek?








You surely know
War's an ill omen tool
That never was used
Except by a fool








LONGING
Sunlight begins to fade
mist fills the flowers
The moon as white as silk
weeps and cannot sleep
Chao zither's phoenix frets
no more shall I touch
Shu lute's Mandarin duck strings
I'll sound instead.
This song has a meaning
that no one can tell
It follows the Spring wind
as far as Yen-jan
To you far, far away
beyond the blue sky -
Whom I once gave
A sideways glance
With eyes that now
Are wells of tears -
If you do not believe
that my heart breaks
Come back and look with me
into this glass.








DRINKING ALONE BY MOONLIGHT
A cup of wine, under the flowering trees;
I drink alone, for no friend is near.
Raising my cup I beckon the bright moon,
For he, with my shadow, will make three men.
The moon, alas, is no drinker of wine;
Listless, my shadow creeps about at my side.
Yet with the moon as friend and the shadow as slave
I must make merry before the Spring is spent.
To the songs I sing the moon flickers her beams;
In the dance I weave my shadow tangles and breaks.
While we were sober, three shared the fun;
Now we are drunk, each goes his way.
May we long share our odd, inanimate feast,
And meet at last on the Cloudy River of the sky








Thoughts on a Still Night
Before my bed, the moon is shining bright,
I think that it is frost upon the ground.
I raise my head and look at the bright moon,
I lower my head and think of home.








Autumn Air
The autumn air is clear,
The autumn moon is bright.
Fallen leaves gather and scatter,
The jackdaw perches and starts anew.
We think of each other- when will we meet?
This hour, this night, my feelings are hard.








Marble Steps Complaint
White dew grows on the marble steps,
And in the long night, soaks into my stockings.
But now I let the crystal curtain down,
And gaze through it at the autumn moon.