Quotes by Bai Li

“AMUSING MYSELFFacing my wine, I did not see the dusk,Falling blossoms have filled the folds of my clothes.Drunk, I rise and approach the moon in the stream,Birds are far off, people too are few.””

“The living is a passing traveler;The dead, a person come home.One short journey between heaven and earth,Then, alas! we are the same old dust of ten thousand ages.The rabbit in the moon pounds out the elixir in vain;Fu-sang, the tree of immortality, has crumbled to kindling wood.Man dies, his white bones are dumb without a wordWhile the green pines feel the coming of spring.Looking back, I sigh; looking in front of me, I sigh again.What is there to value in this life's vaporous glory?””

“I lift my goblet to melt away sorrow,but sorrow continues in sorrow.Man's life in this world may never findwhat satisfies the mind -Tomorrow at dawn let your hair flow down,For delight sail off in your tiny boat.””

“Tangled grasses lie matted with death,but generals keep at it. And for what?Isn't it clear that weapons are the tools of misery?The great sages never waited until the needfor such things arose.””

“QUIET NIGHT THOUGHTBefore my bed the moonlight glitters,Like frost upon the ground.I look up to the mountain moon,Look down and think of home.””

“ANCIENT AIR (39)I climb up high and look on the four seas,Heaven and earth spreading out so far.Frost blankets all the stuff of autumn,The wind blows with the great desert's cold.The eastward-flowing water is immense,All the ten thousand things billow.The white sun's passing brightness fades,Floating clouds seem to have no end.Swallows and sparrows nest in the wutong tree,Yuan and luan birds perch among jujube thorns.Now it's time to head on back again,I flick my sword and sing 'Taking the Hard Road'.””

“Bears, dragons, tempestuous on mountain and river, Startle the forest and make the heights tremble. Clouds darken beneath the darkness of rain, streams pale with a pallor of mist. The gods of Thunder and Lightning Shatter the whole range””

“FOR WANG LUNLi Bai is already on the boat, preparing to depart,I suddenly hear the sound of stamping and singing on the shore.The water of Taohua pond reaches a thousand feet in depth,But still it's not as deep as Wang Lun's feelings seeing me off.””

“HEARING A FLUTE ON A SPRING NIGHT IN LUOYANGFrom whose home secretly flies the sound of a jade flute?It's lost amid the spring wind which fills Luoyang city.In the middle of this nocturne I remember the snapped willow,What person would not start to think of home!””

“LONG YEARNINGLong yearning,To be in Chang'an.The grasshoppers weave their autumn song by the golden railing of the well;Frost coalesces on my bamboo mat, changing its colour with cold.My lonely lamp is not bright, I’d like to end these thoughts; I roll back the hanging, gaze at the moon, and long sigh in vain.The beautiful person's like a flower beyond the edge of the clouds.Above is the black night of heaven's height;Below is the green water billowing on.The sky is long, the road is far, bitter flies my spirit;The spirit I dream can't get through, the mountain pass is hard.Long yearning,Breaks my heart.””