Great Lines of Li Bai and Du Fu
Been reading them for years, never have I tried to memorize their complete verses traditionally as many past poets do as some kind of method to study poetry, totally useless to me, I prefer all great lines that stick, a great line never meant to be memorized nor to be chanted like aria, it sings in the mind, you only need to read it once, and that first time you set your eyes on it you will never forget, of course you have to have lived some life to feel it. And both great Tang poets got so many lines that stick but my favorite of each just pops to me from time to time. I know those lines are eternal.
Li Bai
吾亦能高咏，
斯人不可闻。
I too can sing some great songs,
but the dead soul can't hear my voice.
Du Fu
飘飘何所似？
天地一沙鸥。
Adrift, to what I should compare myself?
Between the heaven and the Earth, a sand gull.
Li Bai's loneliness passes thru the time in his verse, to recall a memory, a soul mate; Du Fu's loneliness passes thru the space in his verse, to search for a destination.
Their lines also bother me with the questions, why we sing, why we must sing, why we write, why we must write, why we need to go some places, what we search, why and what keep us on the road and constantly searching... those lines are not statement.
I guess no wonder I can't forget these lines, even some days I may forget the wholes poems or many others but these lines I won't forget just like Shakespeare's to be or not to be... even most people includes me cannot recite the whole soliloquy, is that important? the rest seems doesn't hold much of value to register on our memory block.
also, there's great Japanese Haiku poet, his verse is:
Life
is walking on the roof of hell
watching cherry blossoms.
