waka waka waka

4 Responses to “The More Things Change”

1. Duncan says:
   March 10th, 2006 at 10:28 pm

   We sit together, the mountain and me,
   until only the mountain remains.

   Like Omar Khayyam (which we’ve discussed previously), my knowledge of Li Po relies very much on the translation for effect. The above is via Mitchell. Whatever the genesis, this is one of my favorite couplets.

2. eugene says:
   March 11th, 2006 at 10:42 am

   The original chinese text for Li Po cited by Duncan is

   敬亭獨坐

   眾鳥高飛盡
   孤雲去獨閒
   相看兩不厭
   唯有敬亭山

   And word for word translation is

   Jin Ting solitary sitting

   All Birds High Fly Away
   Lone Cloud (Searches for) (Its own) Fun
   Mutually Look (We both) Without Bore
   Only (There is) Jing Ting Mountain

3. Malcolm says:
   March 11th, 2006 at 2:20 pm

   Thank you, Eugene. As much as I love English, sometimes I feel like its prisoner.

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