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152. The Lonely Goose | Cui Tu

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English translation

Several lines of wild geese have all flown back to the frontier; I think of you—where are you going alone?

'Returning to the frontier, all gone' means the homeward geese have all flown away. 'I think of you—where do you go alone' is the poem's starting point: the poet addresses the lone goose, a bird fallen out of formation, with no direction.

In the evening rain it calls to its companions but has lost them; it wants to settle on the cold pond, yet hesitates.

'Calling out and losing them' means calling to companions yet losing them, with no response. 'Slow to come down' means wanting to settle yet hesitating; it writes out all the lone goose's unease.

Through the low clouds over the islet it passes in the darkness; the cold moon at the frontier follows it all the way.

'Passing in the dark' means flying through the darkness. 'The cold moon follows' means only the cold moon keeps it company. The two lines write a solitary journey.

It may not necessarily meet the short arrows used to shoot birds; yet its solitary flight is itself cause for doubt.

The term 'zeng-zhuo' refers to the short arrows used to shoot birds. 'Itself cause for doubt' is the key to the whole poem: the real fear comes from being separated from the flock, not from external enemies.

赏析 · Commentary

咏孤雁，实为自喻 · A Lone Goose That Stands for the Poet

崔涂这首《孤雁》历来被读作自况。一只离群的雁，在暮雨中叫不应同伴，想落下又不敢，只有冷月相随——这正是一个失群者的处境。末联说得最明白：危险未必真来，胆怯先来了。崔涂不写自己，通篇只写雁，可每一句都能对回人身上。咏物诗的高处就在这种两头都通。

Cui Tu's Lone Goose has always been read as self-portrait. A goose out of formation calls in the evening rain and no one answers, wants to land and dares not, and has only a cold moon for company — exactly the condition of one cut off from his group. The last couplet says it plainly: the danger has not come, the fear has. Cui Tu never writes himself, only the goose, and every line fits a man. The height of a poem on a thing is this double validity.

「欲下迟」的心理 · The Mind in "Slow to Come Down"

第二联下句写雁想落在寒塘上又迟疑，这是全诗最细的一笔。离群之后，连休息都变成了需要勇气的事——没有同伴放哨，落下可能意味着危险。崔涂把这种处境写成一个停顿：想下，又不下。五个字里含着完整的犹豫过程，比直接说「惊惧」有力得多。

The second couplet's second half writes the goose wanting to settle on a cold pond and hesitating, the poem's finest stroke. Once out of formation even resting needs courage — with no companion on watch, coming down may mean danger. Cui Tu writes the condition as a pause: it wants to descend and does not. Five characters hold a whole process of hesitation, far stronger than saying "afraid."

末联为什么不写危险 · Why the Last Couplet Avoids the Danger

"未必逢矰缴，孤飞自可疑" 承认了危险并不确定，却仍然害怕。这一句把外在的威胁换成了内在的：真正让孤雁不安的是它自己。崔涂写到这里，诗就从咏物转到了写心。唐诗里写离群索居，很少用「孤独」这样的词，多半通过一个具体的处境来说明——这一首用的是「疑」字。

"It may not meet the arrows, and flying alone it doubts itself" admits the danger is uncertain and keeps the fear. The line replaces an external threat with an internal one: what unsettles the lone goose is itself. Here the poem turns from the object to the mind. Tang verse writes isolation without the word "lonely," usually through a concrete situation — this one uses "doubt."

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