Li Bai is widely recognized as one of the greatest poets in Chinese history.
自遣
对酒[1]不觉暝，
落花盈[2]我衣。
醉起步溪月，
鸟还人亦稀。
如果说《山中问答》是写山居悠闲的乐趣，这首《自遣》就是山居生活的写照。第一句“对酒不觉暝”，说的是整日读书饮酒，不知不觉天就晚了，真是神仙生活，因为神仙不就是壶中天地大，书中日月长吗？第二句“落花盈我衣”，似乎是接着《山中问答》第三句“桃花流水窅然去”而言的，说桃花不但落在流水上，而且落满我一身，这不是成了桃花仙吗？第三句“醉起步溪月”，说不但落花有意于流水，诗人和明月也是一样流连忘返。最后一句“鸟还人亦稀”，是说鸟归人归，我独不归，这就是诗人与众不同的地方。因为“真”是自然规律的需要，“善”是社会规律的需要，两者都是客观需要，只有爱“美”是人的主观需要，表达了人的自由，表达了诗人高于万物的需求。
注释：
[1]对酒：与朋友对饮。
[2]盈：洒满。
Solitude
I’m drunk with wine
And with moonshine,
With flowers fallen o’er the ground
And o’er me the blue-gowned.
Sobered,I stroll along the stream
Whose ripples gleam,
I see not a bird
And hear not a word.
If “Questions and Answers in the Mountains” describes the leisurely pleasure of mountain life, this “Self-Consolation” is a portrayal of mountain life. The first sentence “I don’t feel the night when I drink wine” says that I read and drink all day, and before I know it, it’s getting late. It’s really a fairy life, because isn’t the fairy the world in the pot, the sun and the moon in the book? The second sentence “The fallen flowers fill my clothes” seems to be a continuation of the third sentence of “Questions and Answers in the Mountains” “The peach blossoms and flowing water go away quietly”, saying that the peach blossoms not only fall on the flowing water, but also fall all over me. Isn’t this a peach blossom fairy? The third sentence “I get up drunk and walk under the moon in the stream” says that not only the fallen flowers are interested in the flowing water, but the poet and the bright moon are also reluctant to leave. The last sentence “Birds return, people also rarely” means that birds return, people return, but I don’t return, this is what makes the poet different. Because “truth” is the need of natural laws, and “goodness” is the need of social laws. Both are objective needs. Only the love of “beauty” is a subjective need of people, which expresses human freedom and the poet’s needs that are higher than all things.
