Excerpt from "A Song of Lu Mountain to Censor Lu Xuzhou" -- Li Bai

I am the madman of the Chu country
Who sang a mad song disputing Confucius.

Holding in my hand a staff of green jade,
I have crossed, since morning at the Yellow Crane Terrace,
All five sacred mountains, without thought of the distance,
According to the one constant habit of my life.

Lu Mountain stands beside the Southern Dipper
In clouds reaching silken like a nine-paneled screen,
With its shadows in a crystal lake deepening the green water.

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Poem selected by Dawn Stanton, translator unknown.

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The great Tang Dynasty poet Li Bai (701-762) was born in Suiye, China. His family moved to Jiangyou (170 km from Chengdu) when he was 5 years old. Li Bai left Jiangyou at the age of 20 and traveled throughout much of his life.

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