The Feline Warrior

Note from The Feline Warrior: The following is excerpted from “Chunye Yan Taoliyuan Xu” by Mr. Li Bai (a.k.a. Li Po, 701–762 A.D.), first published in 733 A.D. The original is in public domain everywhere; the following English translation is the work of The Feline Warrior.

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The cosmos is but a transient inn for all creatures alive; time is but a wayfarer traversing hundreds of generations. This floating life is like a fleeting dream — and how much joy of living are we afforded to have? It was indeed with good reason that the ancients would, even by candlelight, carouse through the nights; and surely, with the springtide inviting us to its vapory halation, and the vast earth lending me her poetic spectacle, what time could be better than the present?

夫天地者，萬物之逆旅，光陰者，百代之過客。而浮生若夢，爲歡幾何？古人秉燭夜遊，良有以也。況陽春召我以煙景，大塊假我以文章？ 李白『春夜宴桃李園序』