A Song Asking the Banished Immortal — composed on the spot and given to Yi Misu, Academician (內翰)問謫仙行。贈內翰李眉叟坐上作。

I never saw Li Taibai, and longed to see him at least in a dream. Not even in dreams could I see him — long now have I been in decline. Today I meet you, and you are truly a banished immortal (謫仙); dream or waking, my heart doubts again. I ask you: in the Tianbao (天寶) years, having the good fortune to be known by Minghuang (明皇), before the Chenxiang Pavilion you sang of peonies, and when water was sprinkled on your face you offered the "Qingping" lyrics where you stood. In the side hall, too, you drafted the edicts, on cold days when the palace maids breathed warmth upon your brush. Food was set out for you on the jeweled couch (寶床) and he came down from his carriage to meet you; the favor and regard of those days were beyond all reckoning. How was it that you were driven out instead, and idled your steps on the green hills of the Xie (謝氏), vainly chanting poems? One morning you reached for the moon and went into the blue sea — in Yingzhou or Penglai, in which place do you gather the magic fungus? A thousand years have passed since you went, yet why do you come again now, longing and longing, and set me thinking? Under your brush the old air of elegance remains, but the savor within the wine — how is it now so wanting? Surely you repent that in that year you did not guard yourself, and bore unjustly the slanders of the general. Your wings drooped and you fell from the sky, and all at once you lost your pledge to go ninety thousand li south. Is it that you mean to change your old tune, seize office with an easy spit on the palms, and outdo Gao Yao and Kui (夔)? And so you do not drink — who is there that knows this intent? Banished immortal, banished immortal, I have seen you now; were I bidden to take up your whip, how should I dare refuse?