SENT TO LI PO AS A GIFT
Florence Wheelock Ayscough translation
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?