— Li Bai
What left me yesterday
Can be retained no more;
What troubles me today
Is the times for which I feel sore.
In autumn wind for miles and miles the wild geese fly.
Let’s drink in face of this in the pavilion high!
Your writing’s forcible like ancient poets while
Mine is in Junior Xie’s clear and spirited style.
Both of us have an ideal high;
We would reach the moon in the sky.
Cut running water with a sword, it will faster flow;
Drink wine to drown your sorrow, it will heavier grow.
If we despair of all human affairs,
Let us roam in a boat with loosened hairs!
Note
Li Bai (701–762 CE) was the quintessential romantic poet of China’s High Tang Dynasty – famed for his boundless imagination, emotional intensity, love of wine, and yearning for freedom. His poetry often swings between ecstatic joy and profound melancholy, blending personal feeling with cosmic vision.
His poem “Farewell to My Uncle Yun, the Imperial Library Editor, at Xie Tiao Pavilion in Xuanchou” is not a conventional farewell but a passionate outpouring of frustration, artistic pride, and restless idealism. Though addressed to his uncle Li Yun (a respected official and writer), the poem quickly becomes a dramatic monologue on the poet’s inner turmoil.
It opens with a powerful lament:”What has abandoned me? / Yesterday’s days – gone, never to return. / What troubles my heart? / Today’s burdens – endless worries.” Time slips away; the present weighs heavy.
But then – relief! Gazing at autumn geese soaring on ten-thousand-mile winds, he finds inspiration to drink deeply atop the high pavilion. He praises the literary legacy: the robust “Jian’an style” of early 3rd-century poets, the ethereal clarity of “Little Xie” (Xie Tiao, the Southern Dynasties poet after whom the pavilion is named) – and declares that both he and his uncle share that same soaring spirit:”Our lofty thoughts take flight – / We long to pluck sun and moon from the blue sky!”
Yet reality crashes back:”Draw a sword to cut flowing water – it flows more; / Raise a cup to drown sorrow – sorrow deepens.” This famous paradox captures the futility of resisting life’s currents.
In the end, disillusioned by a world that stifles genius, he resolves to escape:”Since life brings no satisfaction, / Tomorrow I’ll let my hair down and drift in a small boat.” “Letting down one’s hair” symbolizes rejecting officialdom and embracing Daoist freedom.
宣州谢眺楼饯别校书叔云
— 李白
弃我去者，
昨日之日不可留。
乱我心者，
今日之日多烦忧。
长风万里送秋雁，
对此可以酣高楼。
蓬莱文章建安骨，
中间小谢又清发。
俱怀逸兴壮思飞，
欲上青天揽日月。
抽刀断水水更流，
举杯消愁愁更愁。
人生在世不称意，
明朝散发弄扁舟。
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