Drinking Alone in the Moonlight

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, Itoo must be happy with allaround me; I sit and singand it is as if the moonaccompanies me; then if Idance, it is my shadow thatdances along with me; whilestill not drunk, I am gladto make the moon and my shadowinto friends, but then whenI have drunk too much, weall part; yet these arefriends I can always count onthese who have no emotionwhatsoever; I hope that one daywe three will meet again,deep in the Milky Way.Version 2Beneath the blossoms with a pot of wine,No friends at hand, so I poured alone;I raised my cup to invite the moon,Turned to my shadow, and we became three.Now the moon had never learned about drinking,And my shadow had merely followed my form,But I quickly made friends with the moon and my shadow;To find pleasure in life, make the most of the spring.Whenever I sang, the moon swayed with me;Whenever I danced, my shadow went wild.Drinking, we shared our enjoyment together;Drunk, then each went off on his own.But forever agreed on dispassionate revels,We promised to meet in the far Milky Way.

Li Po was famous for his romantic poems of escape from reality through either his imagination or drinking wine.