Drunken,I'll laugh my fill,
Having no time to be grieved.
Books of the ancients may say what they will,
They cannot be wholly believed.
Drunken last night beneath a pine-tree,
I asked it if it liked me so drunk.
Afraid it would bend to try to raise me,.
"Be off!" I said and pushed back its trunk.
醉里且贪欢笑，要愁那得工夫。
近来始觉古人书。
信著全无是处。
昨夜松边醉倒，问松我醉何如。
只疑松动要来扶。
以手推松曰去。
This is a vivid portrayal of the drunken poet who was grieved that the books of the ancient sages became useless now that what they said could no longer be put into practice,which reveals the poet's discontent with the situation of the Southern Song.In the last line the poet injects an extremely colloquial expression borrowed from ancient prose classics.
Classical Chinese poetry thrives on Concision and Ambiguity. Without tense or number, the words create a timeless space where the reader becomes the co-creator of the poem's meaning.
Look for Contrasts: light and shadow, movement and stillness. Don't just translate the words; feel the Yijing (artistic conception) that lingers long after the last character.
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