Question and Answer in the Mountains
They ask me why I live in the green mountains.
I smile and don't reply; my heart's at ease.
Peach blossoms flow downstream, leaving no trace --
And there are other earths and skies than these.
Commentary
[Provenance]
Mandarin Chinese, mid-8th century.
Translated by Vikram Seth, in "Three Chinese Poets" (Faber 1992).
Li Po combines the elegant, evocative minimalism of haiku with the oblique
philosophy of the best Zen koans, and mixes them both with a romantic mysticism that’s entirely his own1. His poems are suffused with an air of otherworldliness, a melancholy that’s not quite sad, a joy that’s not quite happy. And he’s a consummate craftsman, wonderfully adept at getting the most out of the least: with a few deft strokes of the calligrapher’s brush, he creates worlds of meaning, “other earths and skies than these”. Mmmmm.
— Thomas
Minstrels Links
Li Po:
Poem #504, About Tu Fu
Poem #683, To Tu Fu from Shantung
Poem #749, Parting
Poem #794, In the Quiet Night
Poem #826, Self-Abandonment
Poem #916, Question and Answer in the Mountains
Vikram Seth:
Poem #650, All You Who Sleep Tonight
Poem #754, Protocols
Poem #460, Round and Round
Another of the Three Chinese Poets of Seth’s book:
Poem #855, Lady Xi – Wang Wei
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Note to the nitpick-inclined: Yes, I know, Li Po’s poetry predates both the invention of the haiku form, and the founding of the Zen school of Buddhism. So sue me. ↩