by Li-Tai-Po (701 - 762)
Translation by Shigeyoshi Obata (1888 - 1971)
天若不爱酒/ 酒星不在天。
Language: Chinese (中文)
天若不爱酒 酒星不在天。 地若不爱酒 地应无酒泉。 天地既爱酒 爱酒不愧天。 已闻清比圣 复道浊如贤。 贤圣既已饮 何必求神仙？ 三杯通大道 一斗合自然。 但得醉中趣 勿为醒者传。
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Text Authorship:
- by Li-Tai-Po (701 - 762), appears in 月下独酌：四首 (Drinking alone under the Moon: Four Poems), no. 2 [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- [ None yet in the database ]
Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:
- Also set in English, a translation by Shigeyoshi Obata (1888 - 1971) , "A Vindication", appears in Li Po, the Chinese poet, done into English verse ; composed by Jacob Avshalomov.
- Also set in English, a translation by Anonymous/Unidentified Artist ; composed by Benno Bardi.
- Go to the text. [Note: the text is not in the database yet.]
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Researcher for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2025-04-26
Line count: 14
Word count: 14
A vindication
Language: English after the Chinese (中文)
If heaven loved not the wine, A Wine Star would not be in heaven; If earth loved not the wine, The Wine Spring would not be on the earth. Since heaven and earth love the wine, Need a tippling mortal be ashamed? The transparent wine, I hear, Has the soothing virtue of a sage, While the turgid is rich, they say, As the fertile mind of the wise. Both the sage and the wise were drinkers, Why seek for peers among gods and goblins?, Three cups open the grand door to bliss; Take a jugful, the universe is yours. Such is the rapture of the wine, That the sober shall never inherit.
Confirmed with Shigeyoshi Obata, The Works of Li-Po, the Chinese poet, London : Dent, 1923, p.122
Text Authorship:
- by Shigeyoshi Obata (1888 - 1971), "A Vindication", appears in Li Po, the Chinese poet, done into English verse [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]
Based on:
- a text in Chinese (中文) by Li-Tai-Po (701 - 762), appears in 月下独酌：四首 (Drinking alone under the Moon: Four Poems), no. 2
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- by Jacob Avshalomov (1919 - 2013), "A vindication", 2003 [ voice and string quartet ], from Contemplations for Ned: a serenade, no. 1 [sung text not yet checked]
Researcher for this page: Joost van der Linden [Guest Editor]
This text was added to the website: 2025-04-23
Line count: 16
Word count: 112