Dear Li Po, <br />strange things happen to poets <br />during their life, <br />especially those who like wine. <br /> <br />But now, more than a thousand years <br />after your suicide, <br />men have named a crater on <br />the planet Mercury with your name… <br />Mercury, the planet the Greeks called <br />Hermes Apollo, messenger of gods and poets; <br />the shining one; <br /> <br />although men have not been there yet. <br />When they do, they may find you <br />sitting in your crater, watching the Moon <br />(we think it will appear to you <br />two times a day instead of once…) <br />and drinking wine with Uriah; <br />(and your shadows will be there too, <br />tall on the crater’s slope…) <br />you’re teaching him Chinese; <br />he’s translating your poems into English <br />with your approval. <br /> <br />He’d like that. We hope you would. <br />A strange place for immortals to drink wine; <br />but poets do and say strange things; <br />that’s why we love them, just as <br />children love surprises, <br />dear Li Po.<br /><br />Michael Shepherd<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/to-li-po-li-bai-and-uriah/
