When I was in New Mexico a few weeks ago, I spent part of a morning translating the following poem by 李白 Li Bai. One of the Tang dynasty's most famous poets, he hardly needs any introduction. You'll often see his name romanized as Li Po, such as in the case of the awesome Li Po Lounge in San Francisco's Chinatown; that's because 白 is pronounced "bo" instead of "bai" in the context of his name (and "Po" is the old Wade-Giles spelling).
The bulk of the text below comes from this site, whereas the one I translated comes from Archie Barnes' book Chinese Through Poetry. Where the characters differed, I inserted the ones used in Barnes' book. The differences are mostly variant characters, and where they weren't, I don't think the meanings changed significantly. I don't know the history of the poem, so I can't say which one is the preferred text.
嫦娥 Chang'e, the woman alone on the moon, is a well-known story in Chinese literature, and the Chinese space program's lunar probes have been named after her.
My translation is pretty off the cuff, as usual, but I hope you dig it anyway.
微臣
史大偉
-----
把酒問月
李白
青天有月來幾時
我今停酒一問之
人攀明月不可得
月行卻與人相隨
皎如飛鏡臨丹闕
綠煙滅盡清輝發
但見宵從海上來
寧知曉向雲間沒
白兔擣藥秋復春
嫦娥孤棲與誰鄰
今人不見古時月
今月曾經照古人
古人今人若流水
共看明月皆如此
唯願當歌對酒時
月光常照金樽裏
-----
"Wine in hand, I ask the moon questions"
Li Bai
The moon in the blue sky—
how long has it come for?
For now I'll stop drinking
and just ask it
People try to pull down the moon
but can't hold on to it
But when the moon goes on its way
it follows along with us
Bright as a skybound mirror
overlooking the vermilion palace gate
When the green mist is completely gone
pure radiance comes forth
But seeing it only at night
coming in from above the sea
How could one know that at dawn
it sinks among the clouds?
The white rabbit grinds medicine
autumn becomes spring again
Chang'e lives alone—
who is there to be her neighbor?
People today don't see
the moon of long ago
But today's moon once shone
on the people of long ago
Ancient people, modern people—
they're like flowing water
Together they see the bright moon—
all are like this
I only wish that in the company
of wine and song
The moonlight shines into
the golden wine-jar
