A Difficult Journey 1
Li, Bai (701-762 CE)
The fine wine in a golden cup is worth ten thousand coins,
As are the delicacies on a jade plate.
I push aside the cup and lay down my chopsticks
Because I do not have any appetite.
I draw out my sword, look around, and feel puzzled 2.
When I want to sail across the Yellow River,
It is filled with ice.
When I want to climb Tai-hang Mountain,
It is covered with deep snow.
In my leisure time I fish beside a creek.
Once I dreamed that I sailed a boat close to the sun 3.
The journey is difficult.
The journey is difficult.
I am dithering at a crossroad
And wonder which road I should take.
Someday my boat will ride a long-lived wind and break waves.
Then I will cross the sea hoisting the towering sail 4.
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1 The poem was written in 744 CE, a day before Li was forced to leave the
capital, Chang-an. The banishment disappointed and frustrated him. Li was under
a good deal of pressure.
2 "A Difficult Journey" is the name of a melody. Its content often describes
hardship or the sorrow of separation. In "A Difficult Journey", an earlier poet
Zhao Bao wrote, "Facing the table I cannot eat./ I draw my sword, strike a
pillar, and heave a long sigh." Li ingeniously rephrases these two lines.
3 Before Shang Lü met Emperor Wen-wang of
the Zhou dynasty, he was fishing at Pan Creek, a tributary of the Wei River.
Soon after he became Emperor Wen-wang's prime minister. Before Yin Yi was
appointed prime minister by Emperor Tang of the Shang dynasty, he dreamed that
he sailed a boat close to the sun and the moon. These two stories suggest that
both men were confident about their future. This was true for Lü
even though he failed to acquire a government position until he was eighty.
4 This line and the previous one say that Li’s frustrations enhanced his
confidence about his future.
