We Part as Friends

送友人 (We Part as Friends)

— Li Bai (李白), 8th-century Chinese poet

靑山橫北郭

The mountains green lie ’thwart the Northern walls,

白水遶東城

The river glows wrapped round the Eastern hold.

此地一爲別

When on this ground we once do say farewell,

孤蓬萬里征

Alone, far-flung, we’ll tread a thousand miles.

浮雲遊子意

The clouds drift on as do our wanderers’ hearts;

落日故人情

The setting sun with strength of yearning burns.

揮手自玆去

We wave our hands and from this place depart–

蕭蕭班馬鳴

Our mounts call out on parting, quite forlorn.

Yeah I took an ancient Chinese poem and made it cynical & gay lol. I was inspired by Zoë C.’s translation of the same poem, found here, to make a quite different translation.

The differences are very indicative of our styles, I think, and I enjoyed the understated and quietly intense lyricism and voice of Zoë’s rendition. Whereas I, as always, prefer classical iambic metre for classical poetry and use it to build up to big, dramatic emotions.