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Looking at the Moon After Rain

by Li Po (Li Bai)
Translated by Florence Ayscough & Amy Lowell (1921) · From Fir-Flower Tablets

The heavy clouds are broken and blowing,
And once more I can see the wide common stretching beyond the four sides of the city.
Open the door. Half of the moon-toad is already up,
The glimmer of it is like smooth hoar-frost spreading over ten thousand li.
The river is a flat, shining chain.
The moon, rising, is a white eye to the hills;
After it has risen, it is the bright heart of the sea.
Because I love it—so—round as a fan,
I hum songs until the dawn.

This poem and this translation are in the public domain. Source text: Project Gutenberg.

More poems by Li Po (Li Bai)

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