In Deep Thought, Gazing at the Moon
By
Li T'Ai-Po (b. 701-d. 762)
The clear spring reflects the thin, wide-spreading pine-tree--
And for how many thousand, thousand years?
No one knows.
The late Autumn moon shivers along the little water ripples,
The brilliance of it flows in through the window.
Before it I sit for a long time absent-mindedly chanting,
Thinking of my friend--
What deep thoughts!
There is no way to see him. How then can we speak together?
Joy is dead. Sorrow is the heart of man.*
*Ayscough, Florence, Trans. Fir-Flower Tablets: Poems. English Versions by Amy Lowell. Boston, Houghton Mifflin Company, The Riverside Press, Cambridge, 1921, p. 94. Online at https://www.gutenberg.org/files/48222/48222-h/48222-h.htm#Page_39
By
Li T'Ai-Po (b. 701-d. 762)
The clear spring reflects the thin, wide-spreading pine-tree--
And for how many thousand, thousand years?
No one knows.
The late Autumn moon shivers along the little water ripples,
The brilliance of it flows in through the window.
Before it I sit for a long time absent-mindedly chanting,
Thinking of my friend--
What deep thoughts!
There is no way to see him. How then can we speak together?
Joy is dead. Sorrow is the heart of man.*
*Ayscough, Florence, Trans. Fir-Flower Tablets: Poems. English Versions by Amy Lowell. Boston, Houghton Mifflin Company, The Riverside Press, Cambridge, 1921, p. 94. Online at https://www.gutenberg.org/files/48222/48222-h/48222-h.htm#Page_39
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