Li Po

Li Po Poems

Amongst the flowers I
am alone with my pot of wine
drinking by myself; then lifting
my cup I asked the moon
...

I take my wine jug out among the flowers
to drink alone, without friends.

I raise my cup to entice the moon.
...

The moon shimmers in green water.
White herons fly through the moonlight.

The young man hears a girl gathering water-chestnuts:
...

All the birds have flown up and gone;
A lonely cloud floats leisurely by.
...

Amidst the flowers a jug of wine,
I pour alone lacking companionship.
So raising the cup I invite the Moon,
Then turn to my shadow which makes three of us.
...

If heaven loved not the wine,
A Wine Star would not be in heaven;
If earth loved not the wine,
The Wine Spring would not be on the earth.
...

To wash and rinse our souls of their age-old sorrows,
We drained a hundred jugs of wine.
A splendid night it was . . . .
In the clear moonlight we were loath to go to bed,
...

I met Tu Fu on a mountaintop
in August when the sun was hot.

Under the shade of his big straw hat
...

Chuang Tzu in dream became a butterfly,
And the butterfly became Chuang Tzu at waking.
Which was the real—the butterfly or the man ?
Who can tell the end of the endless changes of things?
...

The fields are chill, the sparse rain has stopped;
The colours of Spring teem on every side.
With leaping fish the blue pond is full;
With singing thrushes the green boughs droop.
...

You ask me why I dwell in the green mountain;
I smile and make no reply for my heart is free of care.
...

"Bathed in fragrance,
do not brush your hat;
Washed in perfume,
do not shake your coat:
...

As down Mount Emerald at eve I came,
The mountain moon went all the way with me.
Backward I looked, to see the heights aflame
With a pale light that glimmered eerily.
...

See the waters of the Yellow River leap down from Heaven, Roll away to the deep sea and never turn again! See at the mirror
in the High Hall Aged men bewailing white locks - In the morning, threads of silk, In the evening flakes of snow. Snatch the joys
of life as they come and use them to the full; Do not leave the silver cup idly glinting at the moon. The things that Heaven made
Man was meant to use; A thousand guilders scattered to the wind may come back again. Roast mutton and sliced beef will only
...

Athwart the bed
I watch the moonbeams cast a trail
So bright, so cold, so frail,
That for a space it gleams
...

Amongst the grandeur of Hua Shan
I climb to the Flower Peak,
and fancy I see fairies and immortals
carrying lotus in their
...

Before my bed
there is bright moonlight
So that it seems
Like frost on the ground:
...

See how the Yellow River's water move out of heaven.
Entering the ocean,never to return.
See how lovely locks in bright mirrors in high chambers,
Though silken-black at morning, have changed by night to snow.
...

The spring wind comes from the east and quickly passes,
Leaving faint ripples in the wine of the golden bowl.
The flowers fall, flake after flake, myriads together.

...

Last year we fought by the head-stream of the Sang-kan,
This year we are fighting on the Tsung-ho road.
We have washed our armor in the waves of the Chiao-chi lake,
We have pastured our horses on Tien-shan's snowy slopes.
...

Li Po Biography

Li Bai's birthplace is Chu, Kazakhstan. Another candidate is Suiye in Central Asia (near modern-day Tokmok, Kyrgyzstan). However his family had originally dwelt in what is now southeastern Gansu , and later moved to Jiangyou, near modern Chengdu in Sichuan province, when he was five years old. At the age of ten, his formal education started. Among various schools of classical Chinese philosophies, Taoism was the deepest influence, as demonstrated by his compositions. In 720, he was interviewed by Governor Su Ting, who considered him a genius. Though he expressed the wish to become an official, he could not be bothered to sit for the Chinese civil service examination. Perhaps he considered taking the examination below his dignity. Instead, beginning at age twenty-five, he travelled around China, enjoying liquor and leading a carefree life: very much contrary to the prevailing ideas of a proper Confucian gentleman. His personality fascinated the aristocrats and common people alike, and he was introduced to the Emperor Xuanzong around 742. In 725, when he was twenty-five years old, Li Bai sailed down the Yangtze River all the way to Weiyang (Yangzhou) and Jinling (Nanjing). During the first year of his trip, he met celebrities and gave away much of his wealth to needy friends. He then turned back to central southern China, met Xu Yushi, the retired prime minister, married his daughter, and settled down in Anlu, Hubei. In 730, Li Bai stayed in the Zhongnan Mountain near the capital Chang'an (Xi'an), and tried but failed to secure a position. He sailed down the Yellow River, stopped by Luoyang, and visited Taiyuan before going home. In 740, he moved to Shangdong. In 742, he traveled to Zhejiang and befriended a Taoist priest. The same year, he traveled with his friend to the capital. Poet He Zhizhang called Li Bai "the god dismissed from the Heaven" after their initial meeting, and thus the epithet of "the Poem-God". Consequently, he was interviewed by the emperor (Li Longji, but commonly known by his posthumous title Xuanzong), who personally prepared soup for him, and gave him a post at the Hanlin Academy, which served to provide scholarly expertise and poetry for the Emperor. When the emperor ordered Li Bai to the palace, he was drunk, but he improvised on the spot and produced fascinating love poems alluding to the romance between the emperor and Yang Guifei, the favorite concubine. Once, Li Bai was drunk and asked Gao Lishi, the most powerful eunuch in the palace, to take off his boots in front of the emperor. Gao was offended and managed to persuade Yang Guifei to stop the emperor from naming Li Bai for a prominent position. Li Bai gave up hope thereafter and resigned from the academy. Thereafter he wandered throughout China for the rest of his life. He met Du Fu in the autumn of 744, and again the following year. These were the only occasions on which they met, but the friendship remained particularly important for the starstruck Du Fu (a dozen of his poems to or about Li Bai survive, compared to only one by Li Bai to Du Fu). At the time of the An Lushan Rebellion he became involved in a subsidiary revolt against the Emperor, although the extent to which this was voluntary is unclear. The failure of the rebellion resulted in his exile to Yelang. He was pardoned before the exile journey was complete. Finally, Daizong named Li Bai the Registrar of the Left Commandant's office in 762. When the imperial edict arrived in Dangtu, Anhui, Li Bai was already dead. According to legend, he was drowned attempting to embrace the moon's reflection in a river. In reality, Li Bai committed suicide as evidenced by his farewell poem.)

The Best Poem Of Li Po

Alone And Drinking Under The Moon

Amongst the flowers I
am alone with my pot of wine
drinking by myself; then lifting
my cup I asked the moon
to drink with me, its reflection
and mine in the wine cup, just
the three of us; then I sigh
for the moon cannot drink,
and my shadow goes emptily along
with me never saying a word;
with no other friends here, I can
but use these two for company;
in the time of happiness, I
too must be happy with all
around me; I sit and sing
and it is as if the moon
accompanies me; then if I
dance, it is my shadow that
dances along with me; while
still not drunk, I am glad
to make the moon and my shadow
into friends, but then when
I have drunk too much, we
all part; yet these are
friends I can always count on
these who have no emotion
whatsoever; I hope that one day
we three will meet again,
deep in the Milky Way.

Li Po Comments

Swaqqer Baller 01 November 2011

first comment in like 6 years, swaggg

70 63 Reply
Uriah Hamilton 12 July 2005

King of poets, King of drinkers! Lover of the soft moonlight Reflecting off the midnight water!

75 32 Reply
Kiiza Moses 20 April 2005

I dearly love Li Po.He was indeed a Great Poet.His poems like 'To Wang Lun' are superbly written and very emotional.I love you dearly, Oh Li po!

60 31 Reply
famous boy 19 December 2014

Please i am a poet, how can i post my poems to the site

9 28 Reply
2021 man 13 December 2021

first comment in 10 years, nice

1 0 Reply
Tom Hill 22 August 2020

Of all poets, probably my favorite.

0 0 Reply
yes 13 May 2021

read it in Chinese characters, you will surrender to him forever

0 0
Fabrizio Frosini 11 June 2016

Li Bai (Li Po) and Du Tu (Tu Fu) are the most loved Chinese poets. They are as important in Chinese literary history as Shakespeare is to people in Britain, Drunkenness didn't have negative connotations for an 8th Century poet - it was the route to divine inspiration. Li Bai and Du Fu were both heavy drinkers, even though in other ways their lives were very different. Li Bai was a huge celebrity, showered with honours because of his genius. Du Fu, on the other hand, had a quite harsh life...

60 5 Reply
Fabrizio Frosini 09 June 2016

Li Po's poetry shows a generous free-spirit, celebrating unorthodox perceptions of life. With Tu Fu (Du Fu) he is the most esteemed representative of Daoist (Taoist) poetry [Taoism, or Daoism, is a spiritual path that emphasises the importance of living in natural harmony with the Tao (= the underlying consciousness of the universe - a cosmic unity underlying all phenomena) ].

64 3 Reply
famous boy 19 December 2014

All i did was being nice and lovely It all started on a sunny day At school beautiful compound Were taboo was meant because of love A senior girl failed in love with a junior boy Unbelievable to other senior students Jealousy on the other junior students Have you ever tasted this. Feeling before? In a school lodge it has been in the ears of all birds Greatest story ever told Love birds enjoying thier relationship Gossip were meant in their names Their ears folds gossips,and the relationships grows bigger More jealousy and surprises embarks audiens the first love to both, they don,t know the love rules They play it like your first day on purzle Watering the love flower all together Standing together,watching it grow in a gazing squence Loves like you first day in suduku game No agurment, no quarel ,no misunderstanding Always trying to get it,s point of wickness Gossiper and news caster always troubling the ear, Finally in the school lodge Lover gave up there virginity to each other Not knowing it,s predicament and sacrifice It was the best night for them Blood everywere Finding out they gave up their virginity for both they promised each other love till enternity Always being the the top of In the school Gave them power and courage to survive Thirms ends, and holiday emarged Both crying bitterly, For they have no meens of incommunicado Waving to each other,please be alive till the school resumes No one enjoying the holiday Because their hapiness were not together The holiday was like a widow waiting for his husband to be burried Until the holiday came to an end,,, Boy was hurried back to school At the first day of school Busy looking for his happines Was all he did,,friend finds it so difficult to play with him Because his minds runs for were she could be Like a man waiting for the arrival of his wife to be in the church, he has no rest of mind Troubling and fighting his mind on hw to run to her To welcome her,, till the day fades away still no signs of her for five days made d him a dull boy Lesson in the class was,nt for his listening As her always troubles his mind over her wearabout Teacher and students were also on a suspence of her wearabout On a beautiful sunny sunday,, a news came to them That the girl died on a motor acident on her way back for her holiday The school lost it treasure the boy lost his happiness The teachers lost their hope They students lost a friend What a lost!!!!! All i did was being nice and lovely

14 31 Reply

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