154. Night Thoughts at Zhang Terrace | Wei Zhuang
Text
English translation
Original Chinese text
清瑟怨遥夜，绕弦风雨哀。
English translation
The clear zither grieves through the long night; wind and rain around its strings sound mournful.
'Wind and rain round the strings' blends the sound of the weather with the sound of the zither. The opening begins with sound and sets the poem's grieving tone.
Original Chinese text
孤灯闻楚角，残月下章台。
English translation
By the lone lamp I hear the Chu horn; the waning moon is setting over Zhang Terrace.
'Chu horn' is the horn signal of the Chu region; Zhang Terrace is a street in Chang'an. The couplet gives sound and sight at the end of the night; 'setting over Zhang Terrace' means the moon sinks over or beyond Zhang Terrace, not below it.
Original Chinese text
芳草已云暮，故人殊未来。
English translation
The fragrant grass has already shown the hues of late season; my old friend has still not come.
'Already late' means the time is late; 'not come at all' means he has not come at all. The first line speaks of time, the second of waiting in vain.
Original Chinese text
乡书不可寄，秋雁又南回。
English translation
The letter home cannot be sent; the autumn geese have again gone south.
“Cannot be sent” means the road is cut off or there is no one to entrust it to. “Autumn geese go south” uses the old story of the letter tied to a goose’s leg: the geese return south, and still no letter comes.
赏析 · Commentary
全篇都是「等」 · The Whole Poem Is Waiting
这首诗从夜晚写到夜尽：先是长夜与瑟声，再到孤灯、残月，然后是「故人殊未来」，最后是雁南飞而无信。四联全在等人的过程中，没有一句交代等的是谁、为什么要等。韦庄只写时间怎样过去，以及伴随时间的那些东西。这种写法把等待写成了一个可以看见的过程。
The poem runs from night to the night's end: first the long night and the zither, then a lone lamp and the setting moon, then "not come at all," and finally geese flying south with no letter. All four couplets happen inside the wait, and nothing says who is awaited or why. Wei Zhuang writes only how time passes and what attends it. The method turns waiting into something visible.
「芳草已云暮」 · "The Fragrant Grass Is Already Late"
「芳草」在古诗里常指所思念的人，也指时节。「已云暮」是晚了。这一句同时含着两层意思：想念的人没有消息，时候也晚了。韦庄把一个词当作钟表用——芳草的暮色就是时间的刻度。唐诗写等待，常常这样借自然物来标记时间，不用「过了很久」这样的直说。
"Fragrant grass" in older verse usually means the person longed for, and also the season. "Already late" adds the hour. The line carries both: no news of the one missed, and the day gone. Wei Zhuang uses one word as a clock — the fading of the grass is the mark of the hour. Tang waiting poems often let natural objects keep time instead of saying "a long while."
末句的反用 · The Reversal in the Last Line
「秋雁又南回」用的是鸿雁传书的典故，本来雁来应该带信，可这里雁回来了而信没有。韦庄把典故反着用，失望就加倍了——连最该带来消息的东西都空手回来。全诗写到最后，唯一的盼望也落了空。收在这样的地方，前面所有的等待都有了结论。
"Autumn geese go south again" invokes the old lore of letters carried on a goose's leg; the geese should bring word, and here they come back without any. Wei Zhuang reverses the allusion and doubles the disappointment — even the thing most supposed to carry news returns empty. By the end the poem's one hope has failed, and every wait before it has its conclusion.