53. The Song of Mountain Lu Dispatched to Royal Inspector Lu, Xuzhou

A poem by Li Bai, translated by Hyun Woo Kim, and an announcement for the special occasion

I am by origin the madman of Chu,

Who laughed at Kong Qiu with the song of Feng.

Holding a green jade staff in the hand,

I part with the Yellow Crane Pavilion in the morning.

The Five Rocky Mountains I say not to be far, looking for the immortals;

All my life, I have fancied entering famous mountains to wander!

Mountain Lu magnificently rises next to the Southern Dipper;

The Nine-Fold Screen unfolds as the silk of clouds;

A shadow falls on a bright lake—the shine of a blue eyeliner.

The Golden Palace opens ahead—majestic are the two peaks;

The Milky Way hangs upside down on three stepping stones.

The waterfall and the Incense Burner gaze at each other from afar;

The surrounding cliffs and the overlapping peaks intrude into the sky.

The jade green shadows and the red glow reflect the morning sun;

A bird flies but cannot reach the majestic sky of Wu.

Having climbed up high, it is a great spectacle between the sky and the earth;

A big river goes on without any bound and does not return.

Yellow clouds across ten thousand lis change the weather's look;

A branch of water takes nine ways to flow into a snow-covered mountain.

It is good for a song of Mountain Lu!

A joy emits because of Mountain Lu!

Idly looking into a stone mirror cleans my heart;

Where Master Xie went is buried by thick, thick bush.

In the morning, I take the Cyclical Elixir to remove worldly feelings;

Harmonizing the Heart and Accumulating the Three, the Way is first accomplished.

Far away in the colorful clouds, the immortals are seen,

Holding lotuses in their hands and assembled at the Jade Capital.

Having made an appointment with the Vastness above the Nine Folds first,

I want to meet Lu Ao and run loose in the Wide Clarity.

「廬山謠寄盧侍御虛舟」

我本楚狂人

鳳歌笑孔丘

手持綠玉杖

朝別黃鶴樓

五岳尋仙不辭遠

一生好入名山游

廬山秀出南斗旁

屛風九疊雲錦張

影落明湖靑黛光

金闕前開二峰長

銀河倒掛三石梁

香爐爆布遙相望

回崖沓嶂凌蒼蒼

翠影紅霞映朝日

鳥飛不到吳天長

登高壯觀天地間

大江茫茫去不還

黃雲萬里動風色

白派九道流雪山

好爲廬山謠

興因廬山發

閑窺石鏡淸我心

謝公行處蒼蒼沒

早服還丹無世情

琴心三疊道初成

遙見仙人彩雲裏

手把芙蓉朝玉京

先期汗漫九垓上

愿接盧敖游太淸

From Hyun Woo:

Translating today’s poem, I was astonished once again by Li Bai’s poetic genius. Who can depict the scenery of a mountain in such a creative way, thinking of “a blue eyeliner” that the women of Tang would have used when a “shadow falls on a bright lake”? While I want you to simply breathe in all the images of the poem first, I will explain certain phrases in case you need them.

Lu Xuzhou, to whom the poem is addressed, worked as a 侍御, which I translated as "inspector”. A 侍御’s job was to inspect the other officials, examine their works, and ruthlessly criticize them if necessary. It was considered to be a very honorable position from the Confucian point of view. However, sending a poem to Lu, Li Bai boldly states that he is “by origin the madman of Chu”. According to the Annalects, a record of sayings and deeds by Confucius and his pupils, a so-called madman of Chu sang a song about Feng, a legendary bird, when Confucius was passing by on a chariot. Feng is known to be seen when there is Tao in the world and hides when there is no Tao. The madman was implying that Confucius’ political participation in the world was of no avail. Thus, Li Bai is asking Lu: what’s the point of what you are doing in the middle of political strife? Confucius’ name was Kong Qiu, and calling someone directly by one’s name was considered rude, but Li Bai does not shy away from it.

Instead of being concerned with worldly affairs in a Confucian manner, Li Bai indirectly suggests that it is better to seek immortality like a Taoist would, “looking for the immortals” in the mountains. The “Five Rocky Mountains” are famous mountains of China, and the “Nine-fold Screen”, the “Golden Palace”, and the “Incense Burner” are all spots at Mountain Lu. “Master Xie” refers to Xie Lingyun, a renowned poet, and taking the “Cyclical Elixir” and “Harmonizing the Heart and Accumulating the Three” are methods of Taoist training. “Jade Capital” is where the immortals live up in the sky, Lu Ao was someone believed to have become an immortal, and the precise meaning of 汗漫, which I translated as “Vastness”, is unknown, though it might be the name of another immortal. Finally, the “Nine Folds” and the “Wide Clarity” both refer to the sky.

One more fun and trivial detail before we finish it up: the Cyclical Elixir that Li Bai took was full of heavy metals. Indeed, alchemy can sometimes give people the wacky idea that taking in heavy metals will help them live forever. The last four lines, seemingly describing a mystic experience, might be about the hallucination created by the elixir in reality.

Announcement:

It is the first anniversary of Three Hundred Tang Poems! Last year, March 13th to be precise, I launched this newsletter by translating a poem by Zhang Jiuling. Since then, it has been such a fun and amazing ride. Thank you for staying with me all this time. Accordingly, I am offering the following:

1. A special offer of 20% discount on the annual paid subscription. If you have ever considered supporting this translation project financially, now might be the best time. You can use this link to become a paid subscriber. The offer lasts only till March 31st.

2. Tea for one of those who already are paid subscribers. I am planning to send out some Chinese tea to celebrate the newsletter’s anniversary. It will feel kind of unfair if I offer something only for the newcomers, right? Thank you for helping me all this time with my passion project. To our pleasure, we still have much poetry reading ahead of us.

3. Tea for one of the new paid subscribers. Yes, tea again. Who doesn’t want to drink some good old Chinese tea while reading a medieval Chinese poem? If you become a paid subscriber to this newsletter by March 31st, you might receive tea on top of the postcard. Yes, all paid subscribers will receive a Chinese poetry postcard from me. (Please don’t forget to send me your address, though!)

4. Tea for one person that restacks this post. Tea, tea, and more tea! Tea is never enough, like poetry, and it has to flow! You can’t become a paid subscriber? It doesn’t mean that I am not thankful to you! What really matters is that you are reading a poem with me every month. We are all in this together. So, if you are reading it on Substack, please share this post by restacking it.

   I would like to tell you that I cannot express my gratitude enough with words. It is still astonishing to me that every month, thousands of people around the world are reading thousand-year-old Chinese poems. Once again, thank you for being part of this. Happy anniversary, everyone!
   

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