114. Passing by an Old Friend's Farmstead | Meng Haoran
Text
English translation
Original Chinese text
故人具鸡黍，邀我至田家。
English translation
An old friend has chicken and millet ready and invites me to his farm.
Chicken and millet is ordinary farm fare for a guest, from a story in the Analects. The opening couplet gives the invitation, and the plainest of food marks how close the two are.
Original Chinese text
绿树村边合，青山郭外斜。
English translation
Green trees close around the village; green hills slope beyond the wall.
Close writes the trees ringing the village, slope the trend of the hills. The couplet gives the view outside, one near and one far, drawing the farmstead's position.
Original Chinese text
开轩面场圃，把酒话桑麻。
English translation
Opening the window onto the threshing floor and garden; cups in hand, we talk of mulberry and hemp.
Talking of mulberry and hemp echoes Tao Yuanming's line about speaking only of the growth of crops. The couplet gives the feast as it was: farmland outside the window, farming on the tongue, not one word of society.
Original Chinese text
待到重阳日，还来就菊花。
English translation
When the Double Ninth comes round, I shall come again for the chrysanthemums.
The word jiu in 'jiu chrysanthemums' means to draw near, to approach. The last line does not say goodbye; it directly makes the next appointment, and this visit's pleasure is written into the anticipation of that one.
赏析 · Commentary
为什么田园诗要写得这么朴素 · Why Pastoral Poems Are Written So Plainly
这首诗的用语极朴素：鸡黍、绿树、青山、场圃、桑麻、菊花，没有一个华丽的词。这种朴素是有意的，它对应着田园生活的实况——农家待客就是鸡和米饭，聊天就是庄稼和收成。如果换上珍馐美酒、高谈阔论，反而失去了真心。孟浩然的田园诗继承了陶渊明的传统：把日常写得郑重，把郑重写得日常。
The vocabulary is extremely plain: chicken and millet, green trees, green hills, threshing floor, mulberry and hemp, chrysanthemums — no ornamented word. The plainness is deliberate and answers to the facts of country life: a farmer's hospitality is chicken and rice, and the talk is of crops and harvest. Put in rare dishes and elevated talk and the sincerity is gone. Meng Haoran's pastoral poetry follows Tao Yuanming: treating the ordinary as serious and the serious as ordinary.
「待到重阳日」的预约 · The Appointment at the Double Ninth
这首诗最动人的地方是结尾。一般的送别诗写到这里会说「再见」「珍重」，孟浩然却直接说「下次我还来」——而且指定了时间：重阳节。这就把一次访问变成了一段持续的关系。重阳赏菊是当时的习俗，用这个由头约定下次，也说明这个日子对农家有意义。「还来」两个字，比任何赞美都更能说明他在这里待得舒服。
The most moving part is the ending. A farewell poem at this point would say goodbye or take care; Meng Haoran says outright that he will come again — and names the time: the Double Ninth. A single visit becomes a continuing relation. Viewing chrysanthemums on the Double Ninth was the custom, and using it to fix the next meeting shows the day means something to the farm. The words come again tell more than any praise about how comfortable he was here.
「话桑麻」的分量 · The Weight of Talking of Mulberry and Hemp
这一句只写聊天，但聊什么很要紧：桑麻是农事，不是功名。一个远近闻名的诗人，跟一个农民朋友喝酒，谈的是庄稼。这一方面说明主人是农民，另一方面也说明孟浩然与这位朋友之间不需要客套。唐诗写隐逸，常以「不谈世事」为高，这一句是具体的一例——不写态度，只写话题，态度自见。
The line writes only talk, and what is talked of matters: mulberry and hemp are farming, not office and fame. A poet known far and wide drinks with a farmer friend, and they discuss crops. That shows the host is a farmer and also that no courtesies are needed between them. Tang poems on retreat often prize not discussing the world's affairs, and this line is a concrete instance — not stating the attitude but the topic, and the attitude shows itself.