The cup of alcohol sprinkled on the river water, links the illusory with the real, as if passing through time and space, infusing the poet's lonely yet intense mood into the overcast skies of the battleground of the Three Kingdoms, giving some consolation to his lonely heart.

The poem ends with exasperation at how life is like a dream, and ends with a toast to the moon's reflection on the river. Both the dreams and the moon on the river's surface are illusory, the lonely solitude is quite real. Rather than wallowing in the pain of one's life circumstance, it's perhaps better to open one's mind, and drink while admiring the moon, letting go of all constraints.

Thinking back all the way to Zhou Yu's military campaign at the red cliffs, when he had just married the beautiful Xiao Qiao, and how they made such a radiant couple, beauty matching bravery. The silk hat on his head, fanning himself lightly with a feather fan, reducing the formidable enemy army to ashes amid idle chat and laughter. But what is point of me sitting here pontificating? You might laugh at me, that it's my sentimentality that made my hair go white all over so prematurely. Life is like a passing dream, so we might as well pour a drink into to the river, to drink a toast to the moon's reflection in the river!

Cheers! “Let not our cups be dry before the moon!” Tell me, how could Li Bai write such good poems?

”We living should be full of joy and pride, let not our cups be dry before the moon!“ Come! Cheers!