Li Bai goes other-worldly

7th time's the charm

An Exchange in the Mountains
Li Bai

I make my home in emerald hills. You ask me why
And I don’t speak, just laugh. My soul’s found peace and freedom
Where distant rivers glide away with peach-tree blossom
Beyond this world to flow beneath a different sky.


李白  山中问答
问余何意栖碧山，笑而不答心自闲。
桃花流水窅然去，别有天地非人间。

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In this poem, as always, Li Bai is a difficult nut to crack. There’s an artless perfection to his phrasing that leaves any recreation floundering. I put up a version of this poem that I wasn’t satisfied with a few days ago. Since then we’re another several drafts further in, and I’m starting to go blind with squinting at this one. I’m reasonably happy with this version - I think it follows Li’s diction and gives a structure that is solid enough to support the fluidity of the lines.

Peach-tree blossoms: A reference to Tao Qian’s Peach Blossom Spring, story of a magical rustic paradise.

No reconstructed readings of this one online, I’m afraid.

Edit: But I will just add this as a comparative reading. The Li Bai poem made me think of this one.

Overheard on a Saltmarsh, by Harold Monro

Nymph, nymph, what are your beads?
Green glass, goblin. Why do you stare at them?
Give them me.
                                                No.
Give them me. Give them me.
                                                No.
Then I will howl all night in the reeds,
Lie in the mud and howl for them.
Goblin, why do you love them so?
They are better than stars or water,
Better than voices of winds that sing,
Better than any man’s fair daughter,
Your green glass beads on a silver ring.
Hush, I stole them out of the moon.
Give me your beads, I want them.
                                                No.
I will howl in the deep lagoon
For your green glass beads, I love them so.
Give them me. Give them.
                                                No.