[updated October 2022]
Thinking of Immortals Song
坏 仙 歌
一 鹤 东 飞 过 沧 海
放 心 散 漫 知 何 在？
仙 人 浩 歌 望 我 来
应 攀 玉 树 长 相 待。
尧 舜 之 事 不 足 惊
自 馀 嚣 嚣 真 可 轻。
巨 鳖 莫 载 三 山 去
吾 欲 蓬 莱 顶 上 行。
Huai Xian Ge
Yi he dong fei guo cang hai
Fang xin san man zhi he zai?
Xian ren hao ge wang wo lai
Ying pan yu shu chang xiang dai.
Yao shun zhi shi bu zu jing
Zi yu xiao xiao zhen ke qing.
Ju bie mo zai san shan qu
Wu yu peng lai ding shang xing.
Thinking of Immortals Song
One crane flies east past the dark blue ocean
Heart-mind set free, where can it know a happy-go-lucky existence?
Gaze into the distance, many songs of the immortals come to me
Climb and stay for a long time inside the jade trees.
During the Golden Ages, no surprise that no one wants to be the emperor
After the first dynastic emperor, the successors often just noisy and trivial.
Do not want the huge mythological turtles to carry away the three mountain islands
I want Penglai Island to travel around its’ mountain peaks.
Notes:
One crane is also Li Bai. In Chinese mythology, cranes are the transport mechanisms to heaven, Penglai, and the spiritual realms. Penglai is the mythologcial island in the East China Sea where the immortals live.