Invitation to Friends | Mời Bằng Hữu

Author: Hà Thượng Nhân | A Fayland Maiden Rendition

What minute of delight

 is better... than the meeting of friends.

Gazing into deep sea blue eyes with fond feelings…

Just this very instant’s truly real!

Looking at the moon, 

suddenly awakened from a long dream.

To find that a poet’s life 

is a life of euphoric highs:

High from the rays of sunshine on the willow tree,

From the sounds of birds singing in the morning,

From the dewdrops glistening on the violet Phoenix flowers,

From the letter with ink not yet dried.

Cao Cao, illustrious in the history pages that have closed,

Still fortunate to have left to posterity

the poem “Short Song Style”.

The millennium, is it new or old?

Is the road near ...or is it still far?

Let’s tap on the wine glass like that fellow:

That the moon and the wind of only mine,

The cool wind on the river never stops blowing,

The moon on the mountaintop

radiates its light wide and far…

Everything is but a transitory illusion.

The true nature lies within oneself.

Toast the true nature with cups of wine:

Welcome poet of times past, Su Shi

Welcome Li Bai. Welcome Friends

White clouds float by,

providing shade for the gathering of friends...