SENT TO LI PO AS A GIFT

BY TU FU

Autumn comes,

We meet each other.

You still whirl about as a thistledown in the wind.

Your Elixir of Immortality is not yet perfected

And, remembering Ko Hung, you are ashamed.

You drink a great deal,

You sing wild songs,

Your days pass in emptiness.

Your nature is a spreading fire,

It is swift and strenuous.

But what does all this bravery amount to?