Li Bo (Li Bai) (701 –762 Ce) Chuang Chou And The Butterfuly (Gu Feng) Poem by Eugene Levich

First Translation... by Shigeyoshi Obata (c.1930)

Chuang Chou in a dream became a butterfly,
And the butterfly became Chuang Chou at waking.
Which was the real – the butterfly or the man?
Who can tell the end of the endless changes of things?
The water that flows into the depths of the distant sea
Returns anon to the shallows of a transparent stream.
The man, raising melons outside the green gate of the city,
Was once the Prince of the East Hill.
So must rank and riches vanish.
You know it, still you toil and toil – what for?

Second Translation... by Eugene Levich (2014)

Zhuang Zhou dreamt he was a butterfly.
The butterfly at waking became Zhuang Zhou.
One thing evolves into another.
Myriad things are just so.
Thus the Peng Lai waters, you know,
Return to become a stream clear and shallow.
The man at the Green Gate planting melons
Was Marquis of East Mountain a while ago.
Wealth and honors being as elusive as this...
Why must you chase after them so?

古 風

李 白

莊 周 夢 蝴 蝶
蝴 蝶 為 莊 周
一 體 更 變 易
萬 事 良 悠 悠
乃 知 蓬 萊 水
復 作 清 淺 流
青 門 種 瓜 人
昔 日 東 陵 侯
富 貴 古 如 此
營 營 何 所 求