Of Saint and Sage I have long quaffed deep,
What need for me to study spirits and hsien?[4]
At the third cup I penetrate the Great Way;
A full gallon—Nature and I are one ...
But the things I feel when wine possesses my soul
I will never tell to those who are not drunk.
[1] The Milky Way.
[2] Ch‘iu-ch‘üan, in Kansuh.
[3] “History of Wei Dynasty” (Life of Hsü Mo): “A drunken visitor said, ‘Clear wine I account a Saint: thick wine only a Sage.’”
[4] The lore of Rishi, Immortals.
[6] IN THE MOUNTAINS ON A SUMMER DAY
Gently I stir a white feather fan,
With open shirt sitting in a green wood.
I take off my cap and hang it on a jutting stone;
A wind from the pine-trees trickles on my bare head.