Ancient Air (39)
Li Bai



Climb high gaze four seas
Heaven earth how vast vast
Frost blanket crowd thing autumn
Wind blow big desert cold
Magnificent east flow water
10,000 thing all billow
White sun cover elapse brilliance
Float cloud without certain end
Wutong nest swallow sparrow
Thorn jujube perch yuan luan
Moreover again return go come
Sword sing travel road difficult
I climb up high and look on the four seas,
Heaven and earth spreading out so far.
Frost blankets all the stuff of autumn,
The wind blows with the great desert's cold.
The eastward-flowing water is immense,
All the ten thousand things billow.
The white sun's passing brightness fades,
Floating clouds seem to have no end.
Swallows and sparrows nest in the wutong tree,
Yuan and luan birds perch among jujube thorns.
Now it's time to head on back again,
I flick my sword and sing Taking the Hard Road.

View Chinese text in traditional characters.

Notes: The wutong (known variously in English as the Chinese parasol, pawlonia or tung tree) is renowned for its beauty. It was the favoured perch of the yuan and luan birds, both types of phoenix.
Taking the Hard Road is the title of a yue fu folk song, which also exists in several versions by Li Bai himself.