Dream from the Mountaintop (Bai Juyi)

It's been almost a month of illness, starting with a bout with Covid, which brought on a debilitating knock-on infection thanks to the cytokine storm.  Now, after two weeks of antibiotics, some semblance of good health has been restored.

Translating a poem seemed like a good way to celebrate.  Somehow when I scroll through the online anthology of Tang poems, I often find a poem perfectly suited to my mood, and that certainly proved to be the case today with this poem by Bai JuYi.

Dream from the Mountaintop  

By BaiJuyi 

 

I dreamed of climbing Mt. Song

Alone, carrying a plant and staff

A thousand cliffs, ten thousand ravines

Wandering the whole terrain

 

I dreamed my feet were flawless

Vigorous as in the days of youth

The magic spirit had restored

Everything as it once was

 

I sensed the spirit indwelling

Ill appearance gave way to health   

Outer and inner realms a mere fantasy

When I woke both seemed unreal

 

 Now in daytime I walk as a cripple

At night I proceed with ease and grace

Night and day are evenly divided

Between all that’s lost and gained

梦上山　

 

白居易

 

夜梦上嵩山    独携藜杖出

千岩与万壑 游览皆周毕

 

梦中足不病    健似少年日

既悟神返初    依然旧形质

 

始知形神内 形病神无疾

形神两是幻 梦寤俱非实

 

昼行虽蹇涩 夜步颇安逸

昼夜既平分 其间何得失