月下独酌四首

李白【唐】

【其一】

花间一壶酒，独酌无相亲。

举杯邀明月，对影成三人。

月既不解饮，影徒随我身。

暂伴月将影，行乐须及春。

我歌月徘徊，我舞影零乱。

醒时相交欢，醉后各分散。

永结无情游，相期邈云汉。

【其二】

天若不爱酒，酒星不在天。

地若不爱酒，地应无酒泉。

天地既爱酒，爱酒不愧天。

已闻清比圣，复道浊如贤。

贤圣既已饮，何必求神仙。

三杯通大道，一斗合自然。

但得酒中趣，勿为醒者传。

【其三】

三月咸阳城，千花昼如锦。

谁能春独愁，对此径须饮。

穷通与修短，造化夙所禀。

一樽齐死生，万事固难审。

醉後失天地，兀然就孤枕。

不知有吾身，此乐最为甚。

[3-5] DRINKING ALONE BY MOONLIGHT

LI PO (A.D. 701-762) 

(Three Poems)

I

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. 1

II

If High Heaven had no love for wine,

There would not be a Wine Star in the sky.

If Earth herself had no love for wine,

There would not be a city called Wine Springs. 2

Since Heaven and Earth both love wine,

I can love wine, without shame before God.

Clear wine was once called a Saint; 3

Thick wine was once called "a Sage." 3

Of Saint and Sage I have long quaffed deep,

What need for me to study spirits and hsien? 4

At the third cup I penetrate the Great Way;

A full gallon—Nature and I are one…

But the things I feel when wine possesses my soul

I will never tell to those who are not drunk.

III

In the third month the town of Hsien-yang

Is thick-spread with a carpet of fallen flowers. 

Who in Spring can bear to grieve alone?

Who, sober, look on sights like these?

Riches and Poverty, long or short life,

By the Maker of Things are portioned and disposed;

But a cup of wine levels life and death

And a thousand things obstinately hard to prove.

When I am drunk, I lose Heaven and Earth.

Motionless—I cleave to my lonely bed.

At last I forget that I exist at all,

And at that moment my joy is great indeed.

Footnotes

27:1 The Milky Way.

28:2 Ch‘iu-ch‘üan, in Kansuh.

28:3 "History of Wei Dynasty" (Life of Hsü Mo): "A drunken visitor said, "Clear wine I account a Saint: thick wine only a Sage."

28:4 The lore of Rishi, Immortals.