145. Thoughts in the Cool | Li Shangyin
Text
English translation
Original Chinese text
客去波平槛，蝉休露满枝。
English translation
After the guest has gone, the waves are level with the railing; the cicadas have stopped, and dew covers the branches.
"Waves level with the railing" means the water has risen to the balustrade; "cicadas resting" means the cicadas have stopped singing. The two lines describe the quiet after the guest has left.
Original Chinese text
永怀当此节，倚立自移时。
English translation
At this season a long longing arises; standing there leaning, time passes by itself.
"Long thoughts" means deep longing; "time shifts" means a long while passes. This couplet has no action, only standing still.
Original Chinese text
北斗兼春远，南陵寓使迟。
English translation
The Dipper and spring are both far away; the messenger sent to Nanling is late.
"The Dipper" marks the north; Nanling is a place name in the south. One is far, one is late: this depicts obstruction in both directions.
Original Chinese text
天涯占梦数，疑误有新知。
English translation
At the far ends of the earth I have often divined my dreams, suspecting, perhaps wrongly, that you have found a new confidant.
'Divining dreams' means divining dreams for omens of good or ill. 'Suspecting, perhaps wrongly, a new confidant' is the most convoluted point in the whole poem: when longing has lasted too long, jealousy begins.
赏析 · Commentary
凉思：从身体到心理 · Thoughts in the Cool: From Body to Mind
题作「凉思」，「凉」不只是天气，也是关系冷却的意思。第一联是环境的凉：水涨、蝉停、露满树。第二联是人的凉：站着不动，时间流走。第三联写阻隔，第四联写疑心。李商隐把「凉」从温度一步步推到人际关系上，四联就是这条推演线。
The title means "thoughts in the cool," and the cool is not only weather but a cooling of relations. The first couplet gives the environment's cool: rising water, resting cicadas, dew on every branch. The second gives the man's cool: standing still while time runs. The third writes obstruction, the fourth suspicion. Li Shangyin pushes cool from temperature to human ties, and the four couplets are that line of reasoning.
末句为什么写嫉妒 · Why the Last Line Writes Jealousy
「疑误有新知」是这首诗最不体面、也最真实的一句。通常写思念，都写对方好不好、自己苦不苦；李商隐写的是猜疑：他是不是有了别人。这个念头出现在一首怀念诗里，让全诗的性质变了——不再是单纯的深情，而是一种煎熬。唐诗里肯写这种心思的人不多，这也是李商隐被人反复读的原因。
"Suspecting a new friend" is the poem's least dignified and most truthful line. Longing is usually written as concern for the other's welfare or one's own hardship; Li Shangyin writes suspicion — has he found someone else. The thought's arrival in a poem of remembrance changes the poem's nature: no longer simple devotion but a kind of torment. Few in Tang verse would set down such a thought, which is why Li Shangyin is read again and again.
中间两联的停顿 · The Pause in the Middle Couplets
第二联「倚立自移时」是全诗的一个停顿。前一句写景，后一句忽然什么也不写，只写站了很久。这一停之后，第三联才说到远和迟，第四联才说到疑心。李商隐在写这类情绪浓的诗时，总是故意插进一段没有内容的空白，让读者的注意力落下来，后面的转折才有力。
"Standing, time shifting" is a pause in the poem. A scene line comes first, then nothing is written at all, only that he stood a long while. After that stop the third couplet reaches distance and delay, and the fourth reaches suspicion. In poems with such intense feeling, Li Shangyin always inserts a blank with no content, letting the reader's attention drop so that the turn after it lands.