月下獨酌 (花間一壺酒)

Drinking Alone Under the Moon (A Pot of Wine Among the Flowers)

Among the flowers, a jug of wine;

I drink alone, no kin or friend near.

I raise my cup to invite the bright moon;

with my shadow, we become three.

Yet the moon cannot drink at all,

and my shadow merely follows my body.

For now I take the moon as companion and my shadow as company—

to seek pleasure, one must seize the spring.

When I sing, the moon lingers;

when I dance, my shadow scatters wildly.

In waking hours we share our joy together;

after drunkenness, each goes our separate way.

Let us pledge an eternal, dispassionate wandering,

and promise to meet again in the distant Milky Way.