Another poem of Li Po – pg 151 in the Penguin Classics Li Po and Tu Fu, translated by Arthur Cooper.
COMING DOWN FROM
CHUNG-NAN MOUNTAIN
BY HU-SZU’S HERMITAGE,
HE GAVE ME REST FOR THE NIGHT
AND SET OUT THE WINE
At dusk I came down from the mountain,
The mountain moon as my companion,
And looked behind at tracks I’d taken
That were blue, blue below the skyline:
You took my arm, led me to your hut
Where small children drew hawthorn curtains
To green bamboos and a hidden path
With vines to brush the travellers’ clothes;
And I rejoiced at a place to rest
And good wine, too, to pour out with you:
Ballads we sang, the wind in the pines,
Till, our songs done, Milky Way had paled;
And I was drunk and you were merry,
We had gaily forgotten the world!
Extracts 