Enjoy Life Poem by Tom Billsborough
Enjoy Life
After my audience at Dawn,
I take Spring clothes to pawn.
Each evening I return,
No longer sober
And owing debts for wine
In every quarter.
Still, these days a man
Rarely reaches seventy..
So I watch the butterflies
Taking deep draughts
From lovely flowers,
And dragon-flies skimming
And hovering over the water:
Wind, light and Time spinning forever.
Let us enjoy Life while we can!
This poem has not been translated into any other language yet.
I would like to translate this poem
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5/28/2024 2:33:39 PM # 1.0.0.1119
Wonderful! ! ! ! Tom. Tu Fu enjoying a few, aware he is aging, enjoying butterflies and dragonflies. I like this old guy. He is not worrying about his debts he is enjoying the preciousness of the moment, drunk on wine and drunk on being alive, taking deep draughts, an interesting word. I love how you connect the butterflies and the beverage, one gets a sense that that even the butterflies are drunk on life. Very uplifting Tom, full marks
Thanks, Norah. Yes, I love Tu Fu's attitude to Life. He was of the Tang Dynasty, a good friend of Li Po, whose work is more widely known in the west. It was a rebellious period in China's history with many displaced persons and, in Tu Fu's case separated from his family. But Tu Fu faces the circumstances with courage and good humour. I was sent a book of his poems by the Chinese Government when Mao was their leader. I like very much the style of Chinese verse and its Imagist roots.