Hereβs a refined and poetic DYK (Did You Know?) spotlighting Li Po (also known as Li Bai), the legendary Chinese poet of the Tang dynasty:
π DYK: Li Po Tried to Embrace the Moonβand Drowned?
Did you know that Li Po, one of Chinaβs greatest poets, was said to have died while drunkenly trying to embrace the moonβs reflection in a river?
Li Poβs life was as lyrical as his poetryβfilled with wine, wonder, and wandering.
Nicknamed the βImmortal of Wineβ, he roamed across mountains, rivers, and courts, composing verse that blended mysticism, melancholy, and natureβs eternal rhythm.
π His verses didnβt just describe natureβthey merged with it:
βWe sit together, the mountain and me,
Until only the mountain remains.β
Though the story of his death may be apocryphal, it captures the spirit of a man whose heart beat in harmony with the stars and whose mind never stopped reaching for the infinite.
Li Po didnβt just write about the moon.
He tried to become one with it.
π DYK: Du Fu Chronicled War, Hunger, and ExileβYet Is Called the Sage of Poetry?
While Li Po floated drunk beneath moonlight, Du Fu wrote from famine, war zones, and shattered homes.
Living through the An Lushan Rebellion (755β763 CE), Du Fu witnessed the collapse of the Tang Dynastyβs golden age. He wandered as a refugee, often sick and starvingβyet he composed over 1,400 poems filled with moral clarity and deep compassion.
βA country broken, yet mountains and rivers remain;
Spring in the cityβgrass and trees are thick.β
Du Fuβs poetry wasnβt escapismβit was witness.
He wrote for the poor, the displaced, the forgotten.
Historians call him Chinaβs Virgil. Poets call him the Poet-Sage.
But perhaps his greatest title is simply:
The Voice That Remained.
π Two Voices, One Civilization
Li Po & Du Fu β Moonlight and Ruins
In the Tang Dynastyβs golden age, two poets stood at opposite ends of the same sky.
Li Po reached for the moon with a wine cup in hand, his verses drifting on mist and myth.
Du Fu walked through fire and famine, writing from the wreckage of rebellion, his lines grounded in sorrow and survival.
Together, they form the yin and yang of Chinese poetryβ
one celestial, the other terrestrial.
One a dreamer.
The other, a witness.
βWe sit together, the mountain and meβ
Until only the mountain remains.β
β Li PoβA country broken, yet mountains and rivers remain;
Spring in the cityβgrass and trees are thick.β
β Du Fu
This two-panel tribute honors their eternal dialogue:
ποΈ The poet who drowned chasing moonlight
ποΈ The poet who endured to speak of the broken world
Wonderful snapshots. I love the selection, what you shine light on and the minimalist style in your writing. I get so much out of it with so little words. It is like you have picked the cherries from the trees for us.