75. Grieving for a Prince | Du Fu

全诗不从人写起，先从一只头白的乌鸦写起。它夜里飞、在城门上叫、又去啄大屋。等到第三句「屋底达官走避胡」，人才出现，而且是被乌鸦逼出来的。这个顺序有讲究：乌鸦的动作是反常的（白头的乌鸦本来就罕见，夜里飞更少见），反常的鸟先出场，后面的人事才显得是同一场灾异的一部分。杜甫写安史之乱的诗很多，常用的办法是把大事放小，从一个物件、一个动作、一个声音切进去。这首从乌鸦切，和他写《兵车行》从车轮声切进去是同一路。

The poem does not begin with a person but with a white-headed crow. It flies by night, cries on the city gate, then pecks at a great house. Only in the third line, beneath them the high officials are running from the nomads, do people appear, and the crow has driven them out. The order matters: the bird's behavior is abnormal — a white-headed crow is rare to begin with, and flying at night rarer — and an abnormal bird enters first, so the human events after read as part of the same portent. Du Fu wrote many poems on the An Lushan rebellion, and his usual method is to make great events small, entering through one object, one action, one sound. Beginning with a crow here is the same route as beginning the Song of the War Chariots with the sound of wheels.

全诗到「问之不肯道姓名，但道困苦乞为奴」才第一次出现对话。杜甫问了他，他不说姓名。这个拒绝本身交代了两件事：一是他还在被追捕，说出姓氏会更危险；二是他不肯拿身份来换取同情。接下来的「但道困苦乞为奴」更狠——一个龙种，自己请求做奴仆。杜甫没有评价这两个字，只接着写他的身体：一百天躲在荆棘里，身上没有一块好皮。身份与处境之间拉开了距离，诗的力气就在这个距离上。

Only at asked, he will not give his name, only says he is in want and begs to be a slave does the poem have its first exchange. Du Fu asked, and he would not say his name. The refusal itself states two things: he is still being hunted, and naming his clan would make it worse; and he will not trade his rank for pity. Then he says only he is in want and begs to be a slave — even sharper, a dragon's descendant asking to be a slave. Du Fu does not comment on the words, only continues with his body: a hundred days among thorns, no whole skin left. Rank and circumstance are pulled apart, and the poem's force lies in that distance.

诗的后半段忽然换成劝慰的语气：听说天子已经传位，圣德北服南单于，花门的士兵割面立誓要雪耻。三个消息一个比一个振奋，可杜甫每一句都加了一个限制——「窃闻」是私下听说，「慎勿出口他人狙」是说完就不许再说，「哀哉王孙慎勿疏」是又一次叮嘱小心。振奋的消息全在传闻里，能做的动作只有「不要疏忽」。最后一句「五陵佳气无时无」，把希望交给长安的皇陵，那是一种信念，不是一件事。全诗的矛盾就收在这里：最需要力量的时候，只有气和传闻可用。

The second half turns suddenly consoling: he has heard the throne has passed on, sagely virtue has won over the Southern Khan, the men of Huamen swear to wipe away the shame. Three pieces of news, each more stirring than the last — and Du Fu attaches a limit to every one. Heard privately means word on the grapevine; be careful not to speak of it forbids repeating it the moment it is said; alas, prince, do not slacken is another warning to be careful. The stirring news is all rumor, and the only action available is do not slacken. The last line, the fine air of the Five Mounds is never absent, hands hope to the imperial tombs outside Chang'an — that is a faith, not an event. The poem's contradiction settles there: at the moment of greatest need, only an air and a rumor are available.