Li Bai - Bring in the Wine

The final piece of the Xiao and Dizi concert I saw on Sunday included a recitation of Li Bai's poem 'bring in the wine'.    I didn't know this poem at the time but the subject was very clear, and I quickly found it on the internet afterwards.

Li Bai is probably the world's greatest ever poet of drinking and wrote many terrific poems about drinking (this isn't even one of the most famous).   Enjoy!

李白 將進酒
Li Bai,  Bring in the Wine,

君不見，
Jūn bù jiàn,
[sir] [not] [see]
Have you not seen -

黃河之水天上來，
huánghé zhī shuǐ tiān shànglái,
[Yellow] [River] ['s] [water] [Heaven] [on] [come]
that the waters of the Yellow River come from upon Heaven,

奔流到海不復回;
bēnliú dào hǎi bù fù huí;
[rush] [flow] [to] [sea] [not] [again] [return]
surging into the ocean, never to return again;

君不見，
Jūn bù jiàn,
[sir] [not] [see]
Have you not seen -

高堂明鏡悲白髮，
gāotáng míngjìng bēi bái fà,
[high] [hall] [bright] [mirror] [grief] [white] [hair]
in great halls’ bright mirrors, they grieve over white hair,

朝如青絲暮成雪。
zhāo rú qīngsī mù chéng xuě.
[morning] [like] [black] [thread] [evening] [become] snow]
at dawn like black threads, by evening becoming snow.

人生得意須盡歡，
Rénshēng déyì xū jìn huān,
[person] [life] [get] [desire] [must] [exhaust] [joyous]
In human life, accomplishment must bring total joy,

莫使金樽空對月。
mò shǐ jīn zūn kōng duì yuè.
[do not] [cause] [gold] [goblet] [empty] [face] [moon]
do not allow an empty goblet to face the moon.

天生我材必有用，
Tiān shēng wǒ cái bì yǒu yòng,
[Heaven] [produce] [me] [ability] [must] [have] [use]
Heaven made me – my abilities must have a purpose;

千金散盡還復來。
qiānjīn sàn jǐn hái fù lái.
[thousand] [gold] [scatter] [exhaust] [still] [return] [come]
I spend a thousand gold pieces completely, but they’ll come back again.

烹羊宰牛且為樂，
Pēng yáng zǎi niú qiě wéi lè,
[boil] [sheep] [slaughter] [cow] [for now] [for] [joy]
Boil a lamb, butcher an ox – now we shall be joyous;

會須一飲三百杯。
huì xū yī yǐn sānbǎi bēi.
[will] [must] [one] [drink] [three] [hundred] [cup]
we must drink three hundred cups all at once!

岑夫子，
Cén fūzǐ,
[Cen] [master][]
Master Cen,

丹丘生，
dān qiū shēng,
[Dan] [Qiu] [Sheng]
Dan Qiusheng,

將進酒，
jiāng jìn jiǔ,
[take] [in] [alcohol]
bring in the wine! -

杯莫停。
bēi mò tíng.
[cup] [do not] [stop]
the cups must not stop!

與君歌一曲，
Yǔ jūn gē yī qū,
[give] [sir] [song] [one] [mw]
I’ll sing you a song -

請君為我傾耳聽。
qǐng jūn wèi wǒ qīng ěr tīng.
[request] [sir] [for] [me] [lean] [ear] [listen]
I ask that you lend me your ears.

鐘鼓饌玉不足貴，
Zhōng gǔ zhuàn yù bùzú guì,
[bell] [drum] [delicacy] [jade] [not] [enough] [expensive]
Bells, drums, delicacies, jade – they are not fine enough;

但願長醉不復醒。
dàn yuàn cháng zuì bù fù xǐng.
[only] [wish] [constantly] [drunk] [not] [return] [sober]
I only wish to be forever drunk and never sober again.

古來聖賢皆寂寞，
Gǔlái shèngxián jiē jìmò,
[ancient] [come] [sage][] [all] [solitary] [lonely]
Since ancient times, sages have all been solitary;

惟有飲者留其名。
wéiyǒu yǐn zhě liú qí míng.
[only] [have] [drink] [those who] [leave] [his] [name]
only a drinker can leave his name behind!

陳王昔時宴平樂，
Chén wáng xī shí yàn Pínglè,
[Chen] [monarch] [former] [times] [feast] [Ping] [Le]
The Prince of Chen, in times past, held feasts at Pingle;

斗酒十千恣欢谑。
dǒujiǔ shíqiān zì huān xuè.
[cup] [alcohol] [ten] [thousand] [abandon restraint] [joyous] [joy]
ten thousand cups of wine – abandon restraint and be merry!

主人何為言少錢，
Zhǔrén hé wèi yán shǎo qián,
[main] [person] [what] [for] [speak] [little] [money]
Why would a host speak of having little money? -

徑須沽取對君酌。
jìng xū gū qǔ duì jūn zhuó.
[directly] [must] [buy] [get] [to] [sir] [drink wine]
you must go straight and buy it – I’ll drink it with you!

五花馬，
Wǔ huā mǎ,
[five] [flower] [horse]
My lovely horse,

千金裘，
qiānjīn qiú,
[thousand] [gold] [fur]
my furs worth a thousand gold pieces,

呼兒將出換美酒，
Hū ér jiāng chū huàn měijiǔ,
[call] [boy] [take] [out] [swap] [fine] [wine]
call the boy and have him take them to be swapped for fine wine,

與爾同銷萬古愁。
yǔ ěr tóng xiāo wàn gǔ chóu.
[with] [you] [same] [cancel] [ten thousand] [age] [worry]
and together with you I’ll wipe out the cares of ten thousand ages.

Source:  link

If you want to hear it , youtube has a recitation here  and a Taiwanese opera version here.

You may also enjoy this Guardian article on 'the plastered poetic genius of Li Bai' here.