Friday NIght Poetry: Li Po

I don't know the history behind the following Chinese poem but the image it conjures is extraordinarily evocative. It was translated by Burton Watson. The poem can be found in The Columbia Book of Chinese Poetry.



Autumn Cove


At Autumn Cove, so many white monkeys,
bounding, leaping up like snowflakes in flight!
They coax and pull their young ones down from the branches
to drink and frolic with the water-borne moon.

—Li Po (701-762)