Madly Singing in the Mountains

PoChu-l
from the book "The Hundred Best Poems of All Time"

There is no one among men that has not a special failing:
And my failing consists in writing verses
I have broken away from the thousand tales of life;
But this infirmity still remain behind.
Each time that I look at a fine landscape'
Each time that I meet a loved friend,
I raise my voice and recite a stanza of poetry
And am glad as though a god had crossed my path.
Ever since the day I was banished to Hsun-yang
Half my time I have lived among the hills.
And often, when I have finished a new poem,
Alone I climb the road to the Eastern Rock.
I lean my body on the banks of white stone;
I pull down with my hands a green cassia branch.
My mad singing startles the valleys and hills;
The apes and birds all come to peep.
Fearing to become a laughing stock to the world,
I choose a place that is unfrequented by men.