Discovered by Accident - by Du Mu

Here is a poem by the Tang poet Du Mu I stumbled upon this morning and decided to translate.  The poem has an interesting title -  偶题 - which literally could be translated as Accidental Topic.   But that doesn't seem quite right as the title for a poem as supple and profound as this is, as perhaps you'll agree once you read my translation.  Hard to believe this was written in the early 9th century.

The Way through

The human state of things

May be transmitted by verse

When we’re young

We tread light and easy

But that changes with

The coming years

Today finds us embarked

On a long ocean voyage

Raised on the waves

And buoyant with hope

Not yet arrived

At the Island of Peng Lai

Still short of those Immortal
Shores it seems

*  *  *  *  *

One explanatory note.  The reference in the last stanza to the Island of Peng Lai - this is a place where the Immortals resided located not so far off the coast of Mainland China.

Here's the text of the original:

  

道在人间或可传

小还轻变已多年

今来海上升高望

不到蓬莱不是仙