望天门山望天門山
Tiān mén天门zhōng duàn中断chǔ楚jiāng江kāi开，
bì碧shuǐ水dōng东liú流zhì cǐ至此huí回。
liǎng àn两岸qīng shān青山xiāng duì相对chū出，
gū孤fān帆yī一piān片rì日biān边lái来。
Line by line
- 天门中断楚江开，天門中斷楚江開， Heaven’s Gate is cleft in two where the Chu River opens through;
- 碧水东流至此回。碧水東流至此回。 the green water, flowing east, turns back at this bend.
- 两岸青山相对出，兩岸青山相對出， Blue mountains on both banks rise to face each other,
- 孤帆一片日边来。孤帆一片日邊來。 and a single sail comes on from the edge of the sun.
The poet & the story
Li Bai wrote this as a young man sailing east down the Yangtze, full of confidence and wonder. Heaven’s Gate Mountains are two peaks facing each other across the river near present-day Anhui; the poem turns a geography into a moment of pure motion.
Interpretation
The river breaks Heaven’s Gate Mountain open and flows through; the green water, racing east, wheels back at this bend. Blue peaks on both banks rise to meet him, and a lone sail comes on, straight out of the rim of the sun. Everything moves — water, mountains, boat — yet the picture is perfectly still.