Li Bai (702-761) is one of the greatest Chinese poets of the Tang Dynasty. His poems, Wikipedia tells me, celebrate “the pleasures of friendship, the depth of nature, solitude, and the joys of drinking.” I can’t pretend to know about Li Bai or to have read any other of his poems, but somehow (and I can’t remember how) I stumbled across this one. It features all the themes that Li Bai poems celebrate. When I read the poem first, I wasn’t sure whether the poet was lonely or enjoying being alone, but I think the latter. He enjoys to drink—to the point of drunkenness—with just the moon and his shadow, and he tells us why: because he can always count on them and because they have “no emotion whatsoever.” The poem expresses the self-mastery that Tang philosophy values.

Alone and Drinking Under The Moon

Amongst the flowers I 

am alone with my pot of wine 

drinking by myself; then lifting 

my cup I asked the moon 

to drink with me, its reflection 

and mine in the wine cup, just

the three of us; then I sigh 

for the moon cannot drink, 

and my shadow goes emptily along 

with me never saying a word; 

with no other friends here, I can 

but use these two for company;

in the time of happiness, I 

too must be happy with all 

around me; I sit and sing 

and it is as if the moon 

accompanies me; then if I 

dance, it is my shadow that 

dances along with me; while 

still not drunk, I am glad 

to make the moon and my shadow

into friends, but then when 

I have drunk too much, we 

all part; yet these are 

friends I can always count on 

these who have no emotion 

whatsoever; I hope that one day 

we three will meet again, 

deep in the Milky Way.