Three With the Moon and His Shadow

by Li Bai

　　With a jar of wine I sit by the flowering trees.

　　I drink alone, and where are my friends?

　　Ah, the moon above looks down on me;

　　I call and lift my cup to his brightness.

　　And see, there goes my shadow before me.

　　Ho! We’re a party of three, I say,–

　　Though the poor moon can’t drink,

　　And my shadow but dances around me,

　　We’re all friends to-night,

　　The drinker, the moon and the shadow.

　　Let our revelry be suited to the spring!

　　I sing, the wild moon wanders the sky.

　　I dance, my shadow goes tumbling about.

　　While we’re awake, let us join in carousal;

　　Only sweet drunkenness shall ever part us.

　　Let us pledge a friendship no mortals know,

　　And often hail each other at evening

　　Far across the vast and vaporous space!

　　Li Po