Poem Appreciation -2
Hard is the Way of the World (行路难)
Author: Li Bai (李白, 701-762, Tang Dynasty)
English translation: Xu, Yuanchong (许渊冲)
- 金樽清酒斗十千，
- Pure wine in golden cup costs ten thousand coins, good!
- 玉盘珍羞值万钱。
- Choice dish in a jade plate is worth as much. nice food!
- 停杯投箸不能食，
- Pushing aside my cup and chopsticks, I can’t eat;
- 拔剑四顾心茫然。
- Drawing my sword and looking round, I bear my heart beat.
- 欲渡黄河冰塞川，
- I can’t cross Yellow River: ice has stopped its flow;
- 将登太行雪满山。
- I can’t climb Mount Taihang: the sky is blind with snow.
- 闲来垂钓碧溪上，
- I poise a fishing pole with ease on the green stream,
- 忽复乘舟梦日边。
- Or set sail for the sun like the sage in a dream.
- 行路难，行路难，
- Hard is the way. Hard is the way.
- 多歧路，今安在？
- Don’t go astray! Whither today?
- 长风破浪会有时，
- A time will come to ride the wind and cleave the waves;
- 直挂云帆济沧海！
- I’ll set my cloud-like sail to cross the sea which raves.
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