107. Seeing Off Prefect Li of Zizhou | Wang Wei
Text
English translation
Original Chinese text
万壑树参天，千山响杜鹃。
English translation
In ten thousand valleys trees touch the sky; through a thousand hills the cuckoo cries.
Ten thousand valleys and a thousand hills spread the geography of Shu very wide at the outset. The cuckoo crying is heard, and the cuckoo's call is loudest in Shu.
Original Chinese text
山中一夜雨，树杪百重泉。
English translation
One night of rain in the hills; a hundred falls of water from the treetops.
A night of rain is the cause and a hundred falls the effect. Ten characters give the marvel after rain: water running down from treetop to treetop like a hundred springs.
Original Chinese text
汉女输橦布，巴人讼芋田。
English translation
The women of Han pay in kapok cloth; the men of Ba sue over taro fields.
Kapok cloth was a product of Shu, and the taro fields allude to Zhuo Wenjun and Sima Xiangru. The couplet gives the local customs and the concrete business Prefect Li will face in office.
Original Chinese text
文翁翻教授，不敢倚先贤。
English translation
Wen Weng turned to teaching; do not rest on the worthies before you.
Wen Weng was a Han governor of Shu who did much to promote learning. The last couplet urges Prefect Li by his example, hoping he will accomplish something.
赏析 · Commentary
送人赴任的诗怎么写 · How to Write a Poem for Someone Taking Up Office
送人去做官，最省力的写法是祝愿，但那样就空了。王维这首的重点在「地理」和「政务」：先铺陈蜀地的山川（万壑、千山、夜雨、飞泉），再点出当地民情（橦布、芋田），最后落到政务标杆（文翁）。四联是有逻辑的：先让你知道去的什么地方，再让你知道那里有什么事，最后给你一个可效法的先例。送别诗写到这个程度，才算真正对赴任者有用。
Sending someone to take office is easiest done with good wishes, and that comes out empty. Wang Wei's poem centers on geography and administration: first the mountains and rivers of Shu (ten thousand valleys, a thousand hills, night rain, falling water), then the local customs (kapok cloth, taro fields), and last a standard for governing (Wen Weng). The couplets have a logic: know what place you are going to, know what business awaits there, and take a precedent you can follow. A farewell poem reaches usefulness only at this level.
「山中一夜雨，树杪百重泉」的因果 · Cause and Effect in One Night of Rain
这两句的妙处是把因果关系直接摆出来，中间不需要任何过渡。上一句说下了一夜雨，下一句说树梢上到处是泉水——雨水落到山上，汇入溪流，又从高处层层流下，看起来就像树上挂了百道泉。这是王维对蜀地山形的观察：山高树密，雨后水量大，才有这样的奇景。十个字写了因果，也写了地理。
The merit of these lines is that they state cause and effect with no transition between. The first line says it rained all night; the second says water is everywhere in the treetops — rain fell on the hills, joined the streams, and ran down from height to height till it looked like a hundred springs hung on the trees. This is Wang Wei's observation of Shu's mountain forms: high hills, dense trees, heavy water after rain, and only so does the marvel appear. Ten characters give cause, effect, and geography.
末尾勉励语的分寸 · The Measure of the Closing Encouragement
「文翁翻教授，不敢倚先贤」是把前任的贤者抬出来勉励对方。这句话的分寸在于「不敢」二字：不是说你不如文翁，是说不要因为文翁做得太好就不敢再作为。这样的勉励既尊重了历史，也给了对方空间。送别诗写到这里，已经不是私人交谊的表达，还带着一点公务的期待。王维写过不少送人赴任的诗，这类结尾是他的惯用手法。
Wen Weng turned to teaching; do not rest on the worthies before you sets up a virtuous predecessor to encourage the man. The measure lies in do not rest: not that you are less than Wen Weng, but that you must not shrink from acting because Wen Weng did so well. The encouragement respects the past and leaves the other room. At this point a farewell poem is no longer only private feeling; it carries a public hope. Wang Wei wrote many poems for men taking up posts, and this kind of ending is his habit.