Saturday 16 June 2007

Lanterns mark the way up Snake Hill to the tower...


...passing by The Deferral Pavilion where the poet Li Bai is said to have had the urge to climb the hill to write but on reading the work of Cui Hao he found there, laid down his brush and said:
"I dare not write anything more facing this beautiful view, for Cui Hao has written the best poem for you."
After that Cui Hao became famous for his poetry and the pavilion was built by his descendants in honour of Li Bai's modesty.

Li Bai's work has been translated and can be found online like this one in two translations.

Moon over Mountain Pass

All the birds have flown up and gone;
A lonely cloud floats leisurely by.
We never tire of looking at each other -
Only the mountain and I.

or

The birds have vanished down the sky.
Now the last cloud drains away.
We sit together, the mountain and me,
until only the mountain remains.

Tr. Sam Hamill

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