Drinking Alone Beneath the Moon, Li Bai (300 Tang Shi #6)

One jar of wine among the flowers—
I drink alone without close friends.
I raise my cup, inviting the moon—
With matching shadow, that makes us three.
The moon of course can’t grasp a drink.
My shadow helplessly follows my body.
With my companions, moon and shadow,
I happily enjoy the spring.
I sing—the moon bobs back and forth.
I dance—my shadow flails around.
While I’m clear-headed, we’re cheerful together—
Once I am drunk, we all disperse,
Pledged to roam without attachments
Then meet again in the Milky Way.

月下独酌
花间一壶酒，
独酌无相亲；
举杯邀明月，
对影成三人。
月既不解饮，
影徒随我身；
暂伴月将影，
行乐须及春。
我歌月徘徊，
我舞影零乱；
醒时同交欢，
醉后各分散。
永结无情游，
相期邈云汉。

Another anthology war-horse, translated because curious. It’s the first of a 4-poem set, which I’d not known—CLEARLY the others need translating, yah? The “attachments” are understood as being to worldly things, rather than to each other. Lost in translation: the pledge is “eternal” and the Milky Way is “remote.” Idiom: Milky Way is here called “Cloud Flow” or possibly “Cloud Ripples” (FWIW, the modern name is “Silver River”). Here it represents a Daoist paradise.

—L.