Drinking Alone Beneath the Moon
--Li Po (trans. David Hinton) 

Among the blossoms, a single jar of wine.
No one else here, I ladle it out myself. 

Raising my cup, I toast the bright moon
and facing my shadow makes three, 

though the moon has never understood wine,
and shadow only trails along behind me. 

Kindred a moment with moon and shadow,
I've found a joy that must infuse spring: 

I sing, and moon rocks back and forth;
I dance, and shadow tumbles into pieces. 

Sober, we're together and happy. Drunk,
we scatter away into our own directions: 

intimates forever, we'll wander carefree
and meet again in Star River distances.