Birds fly high without a shadow, and lonely clouds go alone for fun. You look at me and I look at you. They don't hate each other. It's just me and Jingting Mountain ahead.
Sitting alone in Jingting Mountain is a five-character quatrain written by Li Bai, a poet in the Tang Dynasty, which expresses the poet's spiritual world. On the surface, it is about the interest of traveling alone in Jingting Mountain, but its deep meaning is the loneliness of the poet's life. With his peculiar imagination and ingenious conception, the poet gave life to the landscape and personified Jingting Mountain, which was very vivid. The author wrote about his loneliness, his lack of talent, but also his firmness, seeking comfort and sustenance in nature.
The purpose of writing this poem is not to praise the scenery, but to express feelings through the scenery and the quiet scenery here. The poet found solace in the anthropomorphic Jingting Mountain and seemed to feel less lonely. However, it is here that the poet's inner loneliness is more prominent. The deep loneliness in the world and the tragic atmosphere of the poet's life are full of the whole poem.
This poem, written in the 12th year of Tianbao (AD 753), is regarded as a work before and after "going to Jingting Mountain and looking south to remember the past and giving it to Dou Zhushu". Some people also put forward different views. They think that when this poem was written was not indicated in Li Bai's manuscript, but that this poem was written in Tianbao 12, only because of the conclusion of later generations' speculation. It is more likely that this poem was written in Tang Suzong in the second year of Yuan Dynasty (76 1).