80 FIR-FLOWER TABLETS 



romance of the bibulous Li who was the same kind of a 

 genius as Burns: — 



An arbour of flowers 



and a kettle of wine ; 

 Alas ! in the bowers 



no companion is mine. 

 Then the moon sheds her rays 



on my goblet and me 

 And my shadow betrays 



we're a party of three. 



Though the moon cannot swallow 



Her share of the grog, 

 And my shadow must follow 



wherever I jog, — 

 Yet the friendship I'll borrow 



and gaily carouse, 

 And laugh away sorrow 



while spring-time allows. 



See the moon, — how she glances 



response to my song ; 

 See my shadow, it dances 



so lightly along ! 

 While sober I feel 



you are both my good friends ; 

 When drunken I reel, 



our companionship ends. 

 But we'll soon have a greeting 



without a good-bye, 

 At our next merry meeting 



away in the sky. 



How much preferable "we're a party of three" is to Lowell's 

 line "my shadow opposite certainly makes us three" — or 

 Waley's "For he, with my shadow, will make three men." 

 The "three" that are referred to are the moon in the heavens, 

 the shadow in the cup and the poet. Neither the version 

 of Giles or Lowell gives the usual interpretation of the 

 shadow which is that of the poet in his goblet, and not on 

 the ground. An advantage of Giles' rendering is that it 

 calls attention to the caesural pause which is always found 

 in Chinese poetry — 



Hua chien (an arbour of flowers 



i hu tsiu and a kettle of wine) 



This "Drinking Song" has a line of five characters with the 

 caesura after the second character. A drinking song without 

 rhythm is almost inconceivable even with such a ribald line 

 as Miss Lowell's "Oh, be joyful ! One must make the most 

 of spring." One cannot imagine Burn's "The Whistle" or 

 "John Barlevcom" in vers libre. 



