ChineseStudy

36. Seeing Off Chen Zhangfu | Li Qi

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English translation

In the fourth month the south wind comes and the barley turns yellow; the date blossoms have not fallen and the paulownia's shade is already long.

Yellowing barley marks the summer harvest, and the long paulownia shade means the sun is well up. Both lines are all season and crop; a farewell opens on the fields.

The green hills are left at dawn and met again at dusk; the horse whinnies at the gate, and old home comes to mind.

The hills do not move; the man does. Between morning and evening they stay where they are, while the horse's cry splits the road into going out and going home.

How open and level Chen stands on his own two feet — curling beard, tiger brows, and a broad forehead besides.

Character first, then the face. Curling beard, tiger brows, broad forehead are the looks the old portraits gave to heroes; drawing the features is drawing the spirit.

A thousand times ten thousand scrolls are stored in his belly, and he will not bow his head among the weeds.

The first half praises the size of his learning; the second is a posture. With that much inside him, bowing is all the less possible.

At the east gate he buys wine and drinks with the likes of us; his heart makes light of things, and everything weighs a goose feather.

Drinks with the likes of us pulls his friends into the scene. That everything weighs a feather is his own view, and the wine table is where he can say it.

Drunk, he lies down and does not notice the white sun going; now and then he looks up idly at one cloud standing high.

The earlier line lets go, this one gathers in. The lone cloud high up is his own reflection; he looks and says nothing, and the silence is where the unhappiness shows.

The great river's waves run black into the sky, and boats lie idle at the ford, unable to cross.

Only here does the farewell meet an obstacle. Before it was the man, now it is the road: black water, stopped boats, and what holds him back is the weather.

The traveler from Zheng has not yet reached home, and the man bound for Luoyang can only sigh.

Friend and self are set side by side: one not yet home, one still here after seeing him off. Neither of them can get anywhere.

I hear there is no lack of old acquaintances in your home woods — dismissed from office yesterday, how do you stand today?

The close turns to the friend's situation: home after losing his post, plenty of familiar faces, and still the question is how he stands now. The blank is left for the friend and for himself.

赏析 · Commentary

一开头先写庄稼 · The Poem Opens on the Crops

送别诗通常从天气、酒、折柳写起，李颀先写大麦和枣花。这两样都是四月的物候，麦黄是说收成，桐阴长是说日头。人还没出场，时节先铺满了两句。等到第三句陈章甫站进来，他身后已经是一片夏天的田野。

A farewell poem usually starts with weather, wine, or a snapped willow branch; Li Qi starts with barley and date blossoms. Both are the signs of the fourth month — yellowing barley means harvest, long paulownia shade means sun. Before anyone appears, a whole season fills two lines. When Chen Zhangfu steps in at the third line, a summer field is already standing behind him.

给朋友画像，一笔是心一笔是脸 · A Portrait: One Stroke the Face, One the Heart

第三联到第六联都在写这个人。先写长相：卷须、虎眉、宽额，全是旧传里英雄的样貌。紧跟着写肚子里的一万卷书和不肯低头的姿态。李颀不正面夸他，而是让人物自己站成一副身架，读者自己去看那副身架意味着什么。

From the third couplet to the sixth the poem is drawing this one man. First the face: curling beard, tiger brows, broad forehead, the whole hero's kit from the old biographies. Then at once the vast store of scrolls inside him and the refusal to bow. Li Qi never praises him head-on; he lets the man stand up in his own build, and the reader works out what that build means.

「今如何」三个字 · The Three Words "How Do You Stand Now"

诗到结尾不劝解，也不安慰，只问一句：罢了官回去，如今怎么样。前面写陈章甫何等得意，越是得意，这一问越悬着。李颀把话说一半，剩下的一半交给朋友，也交给读者。送别诗写到这个份上，是把自己的位置也放了进去。

The poem does not advise or console at the end; it asks one question: dismissed and gone home, how do you stand now. The earlier lines made Chen Zhangfu look wholly at ease, and the more at ease he looked, the more that question hangs. Li Qi says half and leaves half to the friend, and to the reader. A farewell written this far in has put the poet's own place into it too.

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