My ship is built of spice-wood and has a rudder of mu-
lan;
Musicians sit at the two ends with jeweled bamboo flutes
and pipes of gold.
What a pleasure it is, with a cask of sweet wine
And singing girls beside me,
To drift on the water hither and thither with the waves!
I am happier than the fairy of the air, who rode on his
yellow crane.
And free as the merman who followed the sea-gulls aim-
lessly.
Now with the strokes of my inspired pen I shake the
Five Mountains.
My poem is done, I laugh and my delight is vaster
than the sea.
Oh, deathless poetry! The songs of Chu-ping are ever
glorious as the sun and moon,
While the palaces and towers of the Chu kings have
vanished from the hills.
Yea, if worldly fame and riches were things to last for-
ever,
The waters of the River Han would flow north-westward,
too.