Relationships

Sent to Li Po as a Gift

by Tu Fu 712–770

Translated by Florence Ayscough and Amy Lowell (1921) · From Fir-Flower Tablets (1921)

Relationships

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?

MLA

Fu, Tu. “Sent to Li Po as a Gift.” Translated by Florence Ayscough and Amy Lowell. Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/tu-fu/26/.

Chicago

Fu, Tu. “Sent to Li Po as a Gift.” Translated by Florence Ayscough and Amy Lowell. Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/tu-fu/26/.

Read this poem with the Codex →

More by Tu Fu