With the most sincere thanks to everyone who read my work here at TheFlummoxed.com and especially to those who subscribed, I have gone to Substack! You may now find me at TheFlummoxed.substack.com

“A Goodbye from the Yellow Crane Tower”

Saying “So long!” to my old friend Meng Haoren, seeing him off for Guangling, from the Yellow Crane Tower

By Li Bai

Translated by Ethan McGuire

Inside the fabled tower—“Fare well!”
       to my oldest friend.
Under Spring blossoms, he sets sail,
       but why? I have forgotten.
His lonely vessel fades in azure
       skies, around the bend.
There’s nothing left. The Yangtze River
       flows to the horizon.