Better Come Drink Wine With Me

1

Don't go hide in the deep mountains--
you'll only come to hate it.
Your teeth will ache with the chill of dawn water,
your face smart from the bite of the night frost.
Go off fishing and winds will blow up from the cove;
return from gathering firewood to find snow all over the cliffs.
Better come drink wine with me;
face to face, we'll get mellowly, mellowly drunk.

2

Don't go off and be a farmer--

you'll only make yourself miserable.

Come spring and you'll be plowing the lean soil,

twilight and it's time to feed the skinny ox.

Again and again you'll be hit for government taxes,

but seldom will you meet up with a year of good crops.

Better come drink wine with me;

together we'll get quietly, quietly drunk.

3

Don't go climbing up to the blue clouds--*

the blue clouds are rife with passion and hate,

everyone a wise man, bragging of knowledge and vision,

flattering each other in the scramble for merit and power.

Fish get chowdered because they swallow the bait;

moths burn up when they bumble into the lamp.

Better come drink wine with me;

let yourself go, get roaring, roaring drunk.

4

Don't go into the realm of red dust--

it wears out a person's spirit and strength.

You war with each other like the two horns of a snail,

end up with one ox-hair worth of gain.

Put out the fire that burns in your rage,

stop whetting the knife that hides in a smile.

Better come drink with me;

we'll lie down peacefully, merrily, merrily drunk.

---Bo Juyi - translated from the Chinese by Burton Watson---

* According to the translator, verses 3 and 4 speak allegorically about the worlds of government (clouds) and the marketplace (dust), eternally opposed and at war.