131. Seeing Off Li Duan | Lu Lun
Text
English translation
Original Chinese text
故关衰草遍，离别自堪悲。
English translation
At the old pass withered grass lies all around; to part in such a place is sorrowful in itself.
"Old pass" is an old frontier gate; some say it refers to the area around the poet's home. "Withered grass everywhere" describes the season and is also the ground tone of the mood.
Original Chinese text
路出寒云外，人归暮雪时。
English translation
The road goes out beyond the cold clouds; when you return, it is the hour of evening snow.
"Beyond the cold clouds" tells of the long road; "in the evening snow" tells of the late hour. Both lines are imagined from the other man's side.
Original Chinese text
少孤为客早，多难识君迟。
English translation
Orphaned young, I became a guest far from home early; through many hardships, I knew you too late.
"Orphaned young" is a fact about Lu Lun, whose father died early. "Knew you too late" is regret, and the heaviest point in this line—a true friend found, but found late.
Original Chinese text
掩泪空相向，风尘何处期。
English translation
Hiding our tears, we face each other in silence; amid wind and dust, where can we meet again?
"Facing each other in vain" means facing without words. "Wind and dust" means both a troubled age and the toil of travel. The last line ends on a question and gives no answer.
赏析 · Commentary
写别人的路，是为了写自己的命 · Writing the Other Man's Road to Write His Own Fate
前两联写送别的场面和对方要去的方向，第三联忽然转到自己身上：少孤、多难、识君迟。这一转看似突兀，其实是把送别扩成了一次自我审视。卢纶的诗常把私人经历摊开，让个人的不幸成为送别的分量的一部分。所以末联的「何处期」不只问下次见面，也问自己这样的日子还要过多久。
The first two couplets give the scene of parting and the road ahead; the third turns suddenly to himself — orphaned young, much hardship, knowing you late. The turn looks abrupt and in fact widens the farewell into self-examination. Lu Lun often lays his own life open, letting private misfortune carry part of the farewell's weight. So "where will we meet" asks not only about a next time but about how long such days will last.
「识君迟」的复杂 · The Difficulty of "Knew You Too Late"
这一句同时含着几种意思：遇见知己太晚，因此在一起的时日太少；自己经历太多，已经过了能有少年之交的年纪；也可能含着一层自愧——早年落魄，对方未必看得上。三层意思都藏在五个字里，这就是唐诗密度最高的写法：一个短句承住几种情绪，读的人可以停很久。
The line carries several meanings at once: a true friend met late, so too little time together; a life already too worn for friendships of one's youth; perhaps also a shade of shame — ruined early, unworthy of notice then. All three sit inside five characters, the densest way Tang verse writes: a short phrase holding several feelings, long enough for a reader to linger in.
结尾的空白处就是答案 · The Blank at the End Is the Answer
「风尘何处期」问的是下次见面的地方，但乱世之中确实没有地方可以约定，所以问题本身就是答案：不知道。卢纶没有补一句安慰，因为安慰在这里没有用。送别诗写到问而不答，通常说明作者对重逢是真的没有把握——这也让全诗从一次离别变成了一场时代里的事。
"In dust and wind, where will we meet" asks for a place, and in a disordered age there genuinely is none to fix on, so the question is its own answer: nowhere known. Lu Lun adds no comfort, because comfort would be useless here. When a farewell asks and does not answer, the poet really has no confidence in meeting again — and that turns one parting into a thing taking place in an era.