155. Looking for Lu Hongjian and Not Finding Him | Jiaoran
Text
English translation
Original Chinese text
移家虽带郭，野径入桑麻。
English translation
He has moved his home near the outer city wall, yet a wild path leads into the mulberry and hemp.
“Near the wall” means close to the outer city wall. “A wild path into the mulberry and hemp” shows that though it is near the city, it is in fact far away. The opening couplet marks this ambiguous position.
Original Chinese text
近种篱边菊，秋来未著花。
English translation
Chrysanthemums have lately been planted by the fence; autumn has come and they have not yet flowered.
“Not yet in flower” means no buds have formed. This line looks like an idle remark, yet it shows that the master has only recently moved in.
Original Chinese text
扣门无犬吠，欲去问西家。
English translation
I knock at the door, and there is no answer, not even a dog’s bark; I think of leaving, then go to ask the neighbour to the west.
“No dog barking” means no one is in the house. “Asking the west neighbour” means making inquiries. These two lines describe the actual process of seeking someone and not finding him.
Original Chinese text
报道山中去，归时每日斜。
English translation
The neighbour replies that he has gone into the mountains; when he returns, the sun is always slanting west.
The term 'reported' refers to the neighbour's answer. 'Every day it slants' shows that this is the norm. The closing line ends on an everyday regularity, and the man himself never appears.
赏析 · Commentary
寻人不遇，但见生活 · Not Finding the Man, Finding His Life
这首诗题作「寻陆鸿渐不遇」，陆羽是唐代的隐士。四联没有一句写失望，全在写他所处的环境：靠近城郭却要走野径，刚种的菊花还没开，敲门无人，邻居说他每天进山到日落才回。皎然用这些细节把一个不遇的拜访写成了对隐士生活的了解。人没有见到，形象却出来了。
Titled "Looking for Lu Hongjian and Not Finding Him" — Lu Yu was a Tang recluse — the poem spends no line on disappointment and describes his environment instead: near the city yet reached by a field path, chrysanthemums just planted and not yet open, no answer at the door, a neighbour reporting that he goes into the hills and returns at sundown. Jiaoran turns a failed visit into an understanding of a recluse's life. The man does not appear and his figure does.
「未著花」的分量 · The Weight of "Not Yet in Flower"
第二联的「秋来未著花」是一处伏笔。菊花没开，说明种下不久，也说明主人搬来不久；主人天天进山，种下去的菊自然也无人打理。皎然没有评论主人的生活，只写了一个没开的菊，读者自己会把前后的信息串起来。唐诗写人物，常靠这种看似无意的小细节。
The second couplet's "autumn came and they have not opened" plants something. Unopened chrysanthemums mean they were set in recently and the master moved in recently; and a master who goes into the hills every day has no one tending the planting. Jiaoran does not comment on the man's life, only notes an unopened flower, and the reader assembles the rest. Tang verse draws people through exactly such apparently idle details.
末句为什么不出现人 · Why the Man Never Appears in the Last Line
「报道山中去，归时每日斜」——邻人说他每天进山，日落才回。这句回答既交代了他不在，也交代了他每天的生活。皎然没有继续等下去，也没有写自己什么时候再来。诗停在邻居的话上，人仍然没有露面。不遇就是这样的结果，诗如实停在结果上，反而完整。
"He has gone into the hills and always comes back at sundown" — the neighbour's answer explains both his absence and his daily round. Jiaoran neither waits on nor says when he will come again. The poem stops on the neighbour's sentence and the man still has not shown himself. Not finding someone is like this, and stopping honestly at the result is what makes the poem complete.