Weekly Contest
Classic poem of the day
Quis hic locus, quae regio, quae mundi plaga?
What seas what shores what grey rocks and what islands
What water lapping the bow
And scent of pine and the woodthrush singing through the fog
What images return
O my daughter.
Those who sharpen the tooth of the dog, meaning
Death
Those who glitter with the glory of the hummingbird, meaning
Death
Those who sit in the stye of contentment, meaning
Death
Those who suffer the ecstasy of the animals, meaning
Death
Are become unsubstantial, reduced by a wind,
A breath of pine, and the woodsong fog
By this grace dissolved in place
What is this face, less clear and clearer
The pulse in the arm, less strong and stronger —
Given or lent? more distant than stars and nearer than the eye
Whispers and small laughter between leaves and hurrying feet
Under sleep, where all the waters meet.
B...
member poem of the day
Li Bai wrote this mystical poem in the year following the one where the emperor granted him amnesty from his exile. He had faced setbacks in his life and felt stepped on in his later years, being 60-years-old at the time he wrote this. This feeling led him to follow Daoism (Taoism) and seek divine advice.
This poem makes extensive allusions to Daoist belief, which are explained in the notes after the poem. Because of the length of the poem and extensive allusions, I added slightly more explanatory words to the translation than I would normally do to make it intelligible without constantly jumping to the notes.
