136. The Temple of the First Lord of Shu | Liu Yuxi
Text
English translation
Original Chinese text
天地英雄气，千秋尚凛然。
English translation
The heroic spirit that spans heaven and earth still inspires awe after a thousand years.
“Lingran” is the look of inspiring awe. The poem opens without writing of a temple or a statue but first writes of an air of spirit, lifting the one it writes of into the space between heaven and earth.
Original Chinese text
势分三足鼎，业复五铢钱。
English translation
The realm took shape as a three-legged tripod; his enterprise was to restore the Han wu-zhu coin.
“Three-legged tripod” refers to the division of the realm among Wei, Shu, and Wu. The wu-zhu coin was the currency of the Han, and Liu Bei’s minting of wu-zhu coins was a sign of continuing the Han legitimacy. Each line carries one allusion, and both express political ambition.
Original Chinese text
得相能开国，生儿不象贤。
English translation
Gaining such a minister, he could found a state; the son he begot did not resemble him in worth.
“Gaining a minister” refers to the three visits to the thatched cottage to obtain Zhuge Liang; “the son he begot” refers to the heir Liu Shan. The two words “could” and “did not” settle success and failure together.
Original Chinese text
凄凉蜀故妓，来舞魏宫前。
English translation
Most desolate: the former singing girls of Shu come to dance before the palace of Wei.
After Shu fell, Liu Shan’s musicians and dancers were moved to Luoyang. The closing line offers no judgment; it simply sets out the scene, and the meaning of a fallen state lies entirely within it.
赏析 · Commentary
咏史诗的四个层次 · Four Layers in a Poem on History
刘禹锡从「气」写起，再写功业，再写得失的关键，最后写亡国的场景。四联是一次收紧：先天地，再天下，再一个人的决策（得相、生儿），最后落在一群歌妓身上。最宏观和最微观就这样对上了。咏史诗的难处是既要见识又要具体，刘禹锡用「五铢钱」「蜀故妓」这类实物把见识钉住了。
Liu Yuxi begins with an air, moves to achievement, then to the hinge of gain and loss, and ends with a scene of ruin. The four couplets tighten: heaven and earth, then the realm, then one man's decisions (a minister found, a son begotten), and at last a group of singers. The largest scale meets the smallest. The difficulty in a historical poem is having both insight and concreteness, and Liu Yuxi pins his insight down with objects like the wu-zhu coin and the Shu dancers.
「能」与「不」 · "Could" and "Did Not"
第三联是全诗的判断所在。上下两句只差一个字，一个是「能」，一个是「不」。刘备得孔明而能开国，刘禅有同样的基业却不能守，原因在一贤一不肖。刘禹锡没有写「可惜」「可叹」，只把两个字并在一起，褒贬就出来了。咏史写到这种不动声色的地方，比大声感叹更有力。
The third couplet is where the judgement sits. The two halves differ by one character: "could" and "did not." Liu Bei had Zhuge Liang and could found a state; Liu Shan inherited the same foundation and could not keep it, and the difference is a worthy son or an unworthy one. Liu Yuxi writes no "alas" and no lament; he sets the two words side by side and the verdict is there. History written this quietly hits harder than history that shouts.
为什么末句落在歌妓身上 · Why the Poem Ends on the Dancers
「来舞魏宫前」这个场景在史书里有出处：蜀亡后刘禅被迁洛阳，乐工舞伎随行，后来还有「乐不思蜀」的故事。刘禹锡选这个场面做结尾，是因为它同时含着两件事——旧国的音乐还在，可演出的地方变了。亡国不是一纸降书，是这种日常的错位。一个具体的画面，比一句「社稷倾覆」留得更久。
"Dancing before the palace of Wei" has a source: after Shu fell, Liu Shan was moved to Luoyang with his musicians, and the story of "not thinking of Shu" comes later. Liu Yuxi ends here because the scene holds two things at once — the old state's music survives, and the place of performance has changed. The fall of a country is not a signed surrender but this kind of daily dislocation. A concrete picture outlasts a phrase like "the altars overturned."