Page:The works of Li Po - Obata.djvu/118

 Li Po the Chinese Poet

���Their songs, lifted by the zephyr, pass away in the

sky, But the sweet notes seem to linger in the air, hovering

about the wandering clouds.

The delight of those days cannot be had again. I went west and offered my Ode of the Long Willows, But to my skyey ambition the imperial gates were closed. I came back to the East Mountain, white-headed.

I met you once more at the south end of the Bridge

of Wei; But once more we parted company north of Tsan-tai. You ask me the measure of my sorrow — Pray, watch the fast falling flowers at the going of

spring! I would speak, but speech could not utter all, Nor is there an end to my heart's grief. I call my boy and bid him kneel down and seal this

letter, And I send it to you a thousand miles, remembering.

��This poem was written shortly after Li Po's depart- ure from the capital, and tells of the companionship and excursions the poet had enjoyed with Tung Tsao-chiu before his going to the court. He is now a disappointed man, wandering over the country. See the Introduction.

Tung Tsao-chiu was a military official at Chiao dis- trict in northern Anhwei not very far from the city of Loyang.

Ping-chou, in central Shansi. The dynastic temple [92]

�� �