140. On an Autumn Day Going to Court, Inscribed at the Tongguan Post-Station Tower | Xu Hun

这首诗是许浑赴长安途中在潼关驿楼所作。中间两联全在写这一带的地理：太华在西，中条在东，树色随山而去，河声向东入海。四个方向铺开，人就站在这个十字的中心。这种写法让后面的感慨有了实际的落点——不是空谈去留，是站在一个具体的地方犹豫。

Xu Hun wrote this at the Tongguan post-station tower on his way to Chang'an. Both middle couplets map the area: Taihua west, Zhongtiao east, tree colour running off along the hills, river sound heading east to the sea. Four directions spread out, and the man stands at their crossing. The arrangement gives the feeling that follows a real place to stand on — not vague talk about staying or going, but hesitation at a particular spot.

第一联的「酒一瓢」如果写成「酒一杯」就平常了。瓢是粗器，用它喝酒，透露出旅途中的将就；配上一个「长亭」（送别的亭子），就有了独酌和身在路上的双重意味。许浑选词不追求雅致，反而更贴。唐诗里写旅途，常用这类朴素到有点糙的量词，效果比精雕的词更实。

Had the first couplet read "one cup of wine," it would be ordinary. A gourd is a coarse vessel, and drinking from one shows a journey's makeshift arrangements; with "long pavilion" (a place of farewells) it carries both solitary drinking and being on the road. Xu Hun does not reach for elegance, and lands closer. Tang travel poems often use such plain, slightly rough measures, and the effect is more solid than polished diction.

「帝乡明日到，犹自梦渔樵」把两件事放在一起：赴任在即，心思却在山林。许浑没有说自己要辞官，也没有说要去就任，只是把两种念头并列着，停在犹豫上。写人生的岔路口，最好的位置常常不是选择之后，是还没有选的时候。这首诗就停在那里。

"Tomorrow I reach the capital, and still I dream of fishing and woodcutting" sets two things together: office is at hand, the mind is in the hills. Xu Hun does not say he will resign and does not say he will serve; he places the two inclinations side by side and stops at hesitation. At a fork in life the best position is usually not after the choice but before it. This poem stops there.