135. After the Rebels Were Put Down, Seeing Off a Friend Returning North | Sikong Shu
Text
English translation
Original Chinese text
世乱同南去，时清独北还。
English translation
When the world was in chaos, we went south together; when the times grew peaceful, you alone returned north.
"Together" and "alone" stand in opposition, the hinge of the whole poem. Together in disorder, parted in order—these two lines compress eight years into a single contrast.
Original Chinese text
他乡生白发，旧国见青山。
English translation
In a foreign land, white hairs have grown; in the old country, you see the green hills again.
The first line writes the person, the second the scenery. White hair changes, green hills do not; set against each other, they depict a whole life of going south and coming north.
Original Chinese text
晓月过残垒，繁星宿故关。
English translation
The dawn moon shines over the broken ramparts; beneath the myriad stars, he lodges at the old pass.
These two lines imagine the journey home: setting out before dawn and, once darkness falls, lodging for the night among ruined forts and old passes. The words 'broken' and 'old' reveal the scene after the war.
Original Chinese text
寒禽与衰草，处处伴愁颜。
English translation
Cold birds and withered grass everywhere accompany a grieving face.
"Accompanying a grieving face" hands his sorrow over to birds and grass to keep him company. The closing line offers no consolation; it says only that the company along the way is all bleak.
赏析 · Commentary
「同」与「独」 · "Together" and "Alone"
第一联的两个字决定了全诗的骨架。乱世里一起南下，是共患难；太平了反而各自北归，是共患难的人未必能共享太平。司空曙没有解释原因，也不需要解释——在安史之乱后的返乡潮里，各人有各人的去向，这是常事。诗的力量恰恰来自不做解释：同与独的对照本身就把话说完了。
Two characters in the opening couplet set the poem's frame. Going south together in the disorder was shared hardship; returning north separately once peace came shows that those who shared the hardship need not share the peace. Sikong Shu does not explain the reason, nor is one needed — in the homeward movement after the An Lushan rebellion, scattered destinations were ordinary. The poem's force comes precisely from not explaining: the contrast says it all.
「白发」与「青山」 · "White Hair" and "Green Hills"
第二联把人和景物放在一起：他乡生白发是这些年唯一的成果，旧国见青山是这些年的唯一不变。一联之内，一头是衰老，一头是恒常，人夹在中间。这种写法在唐诗里反复出现，因为它不需要细节就成立——任何经历过乱世归乡的人都能对上。
The second couplet sets person against landscape: white hair grown in a foreign place is the period's only yield, green hills seen on return its only constant. Inside one couplet are decline and permanence, with a man between them. The device recurs in Tang verse because it needs no detail to work — anyone who has gone home after upheaval will match it.
后四句都在路上 · The Last Four Lines Are All on the Road
第三联和第四联都是想象对方北归的旅途：晓月、残垒、繁星、故关、寒禽、衰草。这些景物有一个共同点，全是战乱留下的痕迹。司空曙没有写重逢、没有写祝愿，只写路上会看到什么，等于用六个名词说明这次回乡会看到什么。送别诗把祝福换成景物清单，反而更重。
The third and fourth couplets both imagine the road north: dawn moon, broken ramparts, stars, old passes, cold birds, withered grass. They share one thing — all are what the war left behind. Sikong Shu writes no reunion and no good wishes, only what the road will show, using six nouns to say what going home will be like. A farewell that swaps blessing for an inventory of scenery weighs more.