The Jade Mountain/Endless Yearning

by Li Bai

ENDLESS YEARNING

(Written to Music)

 

I

"I am endlessly yearningTo be in Ch'ang-an.. . . Insects hum of autumn by the gold brim of the well;A thin frost glistens like little mirrors on my cold mat;The high lantern flickers; and deeper grows my longing.I lift the shade and, with many a sigh, gaze upon the moon,Single as a flower, centred from the clouds.Above, I see the blueness and deepness of sky.Below, I see the greenness and the restlessness of water . . .Heaven is high, earth wide; bitter between them flies my sorrow.Can I dream through the gateway, over the mountain?Endless longingBreaks my heart."

II

"The sun has set, and a mist is in the flowers;And the moon grows very white and people sad and sleepless.A Chao harp has just been laid mute on its phœnix-holder,And a Shu lute begins to sound its mandarin-duck strings . . .Since nobody can bear to you the burden of my song,Would that it might follow the spring wind to Yen-jan Mountain.I think of you far away, beyond the blue sky, And my eyes that once were sparklingAre now a well of tears.. . . Oh, if ever you should doubt this aching of my heart,Here in my bright mirror come back and look at me!"

(37)