Juneau

From Whiskey River:

The birds have vanished into the sky,
and now the last cloud drains away.

We sit together, the mountain and me,
until only the mountain remains.

- Li Po

As a thank you to Cindy, for her comment.

Comments

[dave]

I think a more literal translation is more interesting. As with many classical Chinese poems, subects are implied rather than stated.

"A flock of birds spirals out of sight;
A single cloud drifts on, alone.
Gazing at each other, two never tire.
Now there's nothing left but Jing Ting Mountain."

[SB]

Translation is an elusive practice, isn't it? Somewhere among the piles in my house are several of Arthur Whaley's books, and somewhere in one of them must be this poem.

It would be interesting to see many translators' versions of the same poem, together.

There's a book in that for someone.

[Sayoni Basu]

Hi!

I am trying to get in touch with Arthur Whaley, to get his permission to use one his translations. Would you have any idea where I could contact him?