The works of Li Po, the Chinese poet

Li, Po (701-762)

PART I

II.

III.

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118

[OMITTED]

78. IN MEMORIAM

(The poet mourns Ho Chi-chang)

Ssu-ming had a man of madness,
Ho Chi-chang, frenzied with wind and stream.
The first time I met him at Chang-an,
He called me "a god in exile."
O dear lover of the cup,
He has turned the sod under the pine tree—
He who bartered his gold turtle for wine.
Now, alone, I shed tears, remembering him.

Ho Chi-chang. The jovial courtier who introduced Li Po to Hsuan Tsung. Ssu-ming, a district in Chehkiang, was his ancestral home, to which he retired and where he died. See the Introduction, also No. 125.

The gold turtle was probably a trinket of some sort, worn as an ornament.

University of Virginia Library

[OMITTED]

78. IN MEMORIAM

(The poet mourns Ho Chi-chang)