O nome Li-Po também aparece grafado como Le Pih, Ly Pe e Li Tai-pe. Ou Rihaku, em japonês.
Outro dos meus favoritos, também da juventude do poeta:
CH'ANG-KAN VILLAGE SONG
These bangs not yet reaching my eyes,
I played at our gate, picking flowers,
and you came on your horse of bamboo,
circling the well, tossing green plums.
We lived together here in Ch’ang-kan,
two little people without suspicions.
At fourteen, when I became your wife,
so timid and betrayed I never smiled,
I faced the wall and shadow, eyes downcast.
A thousand pleas: I ignored them all.
At fifteen, my scowl began to soften.
I wanted us mingled as dust and ash,
and you always stood fast here for me,
no tower vigils awaiting your return.
At sixteen, you sailed far off to distant
Yen-yu Rock in Ch’u-t’ang Gorge, fierce
June waters impossible, and howling
gibbons called out into the heavens.
At our gate, where you lingered long,
moss buried your tracks one by one,
deep green moss I can’t sweep away.
And autumn’s come early. Leaves fall.
It’s September now. Butterflies appear
in the west garden. They fly in pairs,
and it hurts. I sit heart-stricken
at the bloom of youth in my old face.
Before you start back out beyond
all those gorges, send a letter home.
I’m not saying I’d go far to meet you,
no further than Ch’ang-feng Sands.
(Tradução de David Hinton)
THE RIVER-MERCHANT'S WIFE: A LETTER
WHILE my hair was still cut straight across my forehead
I played about the front gate, pulling flowers.
You came by on bamboo stilts, playing horse;
You walked about my seat, playing with blue plums.
And we went on living in the village of Chokan:
Two small people, without dislike or suspicion.
At fourteen I married My Lord you.
I never laughed, being bashful.
Lowering my head, I looked at the wall.
Called to, a thousand times, I never looked back.
At fifteen I stopped scowling,
I desired my dust to be mingled with yours
Forever and forever, and forever.
Why should I climb the look-out?
At sixteen you departed,
You went into far Ku-to-Yen, by the river of swirling eddies,
And you have been gone five months.
The monkeys make sorrowful noise overhead.
You dragged your feet when you went out.
By the gate now, the moss is grown, the different mosses,
Too deep to clear them away!
The leaves fall early this autumn, in wind.
The paired butterflies are already yellow with August
Over the grass in the west garden—
They hurt me.
I grow older.
If you are coming down through the narrows of the river,
Please let me know beforehand,
And I will come out to meet you, As far as Cho-fu-Sa.
(Tradução de Ezra Pound)
No poema anterior, Li-Po assume uma postura bem masculina; neste, escreve a partir de um ponto de vista feminino.
A respeito da histórica tradução de Pound, que foi quem chamou a atenção dos escritores ocidentais para o trabalho de Li-Po no início do século XX, existe essa página:
http://www.english.uiuc.edu/maps/poets/ ... letter.htm
Apesar de ter escrito "From the Chinese of Li Po" ao pé do poema, Pound não traduziu do chinês, pois que desconhecia. Baseou-se na tradução que um amigo fez a partir de uma tradução japonesa do original chinês.
A distância entre Ch'ang-kan e Cho-fu-Sa (ou Ch’ang-feng Sands) é de cerca de 300 km.