Dreaming of Li Bai: No. 1
English translation and interpretation are being reviewed.
生别常恻恻。
江南瘴疠地，
逐客无消息。
故人入我梦，
明我长相忆。
恐非平生魂，
路远不可测。
魂来枫林青，
魂返关塞黑。
君今在罗网，
何以有羽翼？
落月满屋梁，
犹疑照颜色。
水深波浪阔，
无使蛟龙得。
English translation
The parting of death—we have swallowed our sobs, the parting of life is a constant ache.
Jiangnan, a land of fever and miasma, no word comes from the one who was banished.
My old friend came into my dream, showing that I remember him always.
I fear it was not his living soul, the road is long and past all knowing.
His soul came where the maple woods are green, his soul went back into the blackness of the frontier pass.
You are now caught in the net, how came you by wings to fly?
The sinking moon floods the roof beams, I could swear it lights your face.
The water is deep, the waves are wide, do not let the dragons get you.
Meaning
Parting by death often makes one choke with sobs, yet parting in life oftener brings the deeper grief.
The marshes of the south are places where the pestilential vapour spreads; why is there no word at all from the banished one?
My old friend, you came suddenly into my dream, for you know I hold you always in my thoughts.
Surely you in my dream cannot be a ghost? The road is long, and life and death are hard to judge.
Your spirit came by the green maple wood in the southwest; your spirit returned through the dark land of the frontier hills.
You are now shut in prison, no master of yourself; what wings could bear you to this northern land?
The moon has set, and its clear light floods the roof-beams; dimly I seemed to see your worn and haggard face.
The waters are deep and the waves broad; take care upon your journey, do not stumble and fall into the jaws of the dragon.
Background
Read the background
In 758 (the first year of the Qianyuan era), Li Bai was banished to Yelang (with its seat of government northwest of present-day Zheng'an, Guizhou); the following spring, having reached Mount Wu, he was pardoned and returned to Jiangling. Du Fu, far away in the north, had only heard that Li Bai had been banished and did not know that he had already been pardoned. His anxious longing grew into a dream, and so he wrote the two poems "Dreaming of Li Bai," of which this is one.