100. Given to Meng Haoran

A poem by Li Bai, translated by Hyun Woo Kim

I love Master Meng!

His refinement is known all under heaven.

Rosy-faced, he abandoned his chariot and headdress;

White-headed, he lies down amidst pines and clouds.

Drunk on the Moon, he is often among saints;

Enchanted by flowers, he does not serve the king.

How can I look up to the high mountain?

I can only salute its pure fragrance, hands clasped.

「贈孟浩然」

吾愛孟夫子

風流天下聞

紅顔棄軒冕

白首臥松雲

醉月頻中聖

迷花不事君

高山安可仰

徒此揖淸芬

From Hyun Woo:

This might be the most adorable Tang poem I have translated so far. Simply speaking, Li Bai is fanboying over Meng Haoran. It is not surprising at all. Who, including Li Bai, can resist the charm of the poet who can write a poem like this? “Rosy-faced,” which means when he was young, he “abandoned his chariot and headdress”: he quit his job as a government official. Now, he leads a life where he “lies down amidst pines and clouds” and gets drunk “on the Moon” and enchanted “by the flowers”. He is “the high mountain” that even Li Bai “can only salute its pure fragrance”.

By the way, Li Bai is using a very humorous expression in the poem above. In the kingdom of Wei, alcoholic beverages were prohibited for some time. People still drank, despite the prohibition, and came up with euphemisms: clear wines were called ‘saints’, and unfiltered wines were ‘sages’. So, the expression that someone was “among saints” meant he was tipsy.

P.S. We reached the hundredth Tang poem! Still a lot more to go, but this is definitely a milestone. Many thanks for taking part in this journey. To celebrate, I am offering a discount on the paid annual subscription. Paid subscribers get full access to the archive and a physical Classical Chinese poetry postcard every three months. In addition, if you upgrade your subscription, you will be supporting one of the most ambitious projects on Substack: let people all over the world read Chinese poems over a thousand years old. The offer will last for a week. If you are interested, please click the link below.

We Reached the Hundredth Poem!

If you enjoyed my work, you can buy me a cup of tea. I am not a coffee person, by the way.