125. From My Study at the Mouth of the Valley, Sent to Censor Yang | Qian Qi
Text
English translation
Original Chinese text
泉壑带茅茨,云霞生薜帷。
English translation
Springs and ravines encircle the thatched hut; clouds and glow rise from the curtain of climbing fig.
"Dai" means to encircle or wrap around, not to bring along; "bi-wei" is a curtain woven of climbing fig. The two lines place the study: one part by water, one part high.
Original Chinese text
竹怜新雨后,山爱夕阳时。
English translation
I most cherish the bamboo after fresh rain; I most love the mountain at sunset.
"Lian" and "ai" here mean to cherish and to love; they are the speaker's attitude, turning preference into affection for things. This couplet is also the one most often quoted on its own.
Original Chinese text
闲鹭栖常早,秋花落更迟。
English translation
The idle egret comes back to roost always early; autumn flowers fall even later.
"Idle" describes the egret and also its master. "Late" describes the autumn flowers and the slow passage of days in the hills.
Original Chinese text
家僮扫萝径,昨与故人期。
English translation
The household servant sweeps the path covered with creeping vines; yesterday I made an appointment with an old friend.
Only the last couplet states the purpose of the letter: not lyric expression but invitation. All the scenery before is there to show that this place is worth coming to.
赏析 · Commentary
一封写成诗的邀请信 · An Invitation Written as a Poem
题中「寄杨补阙」交代这是给朋友的诗简。所以前六句不是闲适的自我欣赏,而是有目的的介绍:先说书斋在哪(泉壑、茅屋、薜帷),再说什么时候最好(雨后竹、夕阳山),再说这里有多静(白鹭早栖、秋花迟落),最后才说到正题——路扫好了,你来吧。读懂了这一点,全诗的次序就清楚了。
The title marks this as a verse letter to a friend. The first six lines are therefore not idleness enjoyed for its own sake but a purposeful description: where the study stands (springs, thatch, fig curtain), when it is best (bamboo after rain, hills at sunset), how quiet it is (egrets roosting early, autumn flowers falling late), and only then the point — the path is swept, come. Once that is understood, the poem's order is plain.
「怜」和「爱」是谁在怜、谁在爱 · Who Is Doing the Pitying and the Loving
第二联的「竹怜」「山爱」有两种读法:一种是作者怜竹、爱山;一种是竹自己可爱、山自己可亲。唐诗常故意保留这种模糊,让物与人互相靠拢。放到这封信的语境里,第二种读法更有用——作者是在说,这里的竹和山本身就值得你喜欢,不是我在自夸。
The second couplet's "pity the bamboo" and "love the hills" can be read two ways: the speaker pities the bamboo and loves the hills, or the bamboo is pitiable and the hills lovable in themselves. Tang verse often keeps this blur, letting object and person lean toward each other. In the context of a letter, the second reading does more work: the poet is saying the bamboo and hills here are worth your affection, not that he is praising his own place.
结尾的「昨」字 · The Word "Yesterday" in the Last Line
"家僮扫萝径,昨与故人期" — the sweeping is happening now, the agreement was made yesterday. The one word shi sets the invitation in a real schedule: it is not a vague wish to meet some day. A poem that spent six lines on scenery ends with a chore and a date, and that is exactly what makes the invitation credible.
"家僮扫萝径,昨与故人期" —— 打扫是此刻,约定是昨天。一个「昨」字把邀请放进真实的时间表:不是改日有空的客套,是已经说定了。花六句写景,最后落在一件家务和一个日子上,信才算成立。