160. On the Double Ninth I Climb the Immortal-Greeting Terrace, Presented to Magistrate Liu | Cui Shu

望仙台相传是汉文帝为望仙人河上公而筑。颈联把两个本地传说并举：关门令尹指尹喜，他在函谷关望见紫气而识得老子；河上仙翁即河上公，文帝曾亲往问道。崔曙写这两句不着议论，只用两个问句式的感叹——谁能识、去不回——把求仙的徒劳说尽。这一联是全诗的转轴：前两联写登临的气象，是扬；此联写到仙人无踪，是抑；尾联的菊花杯就是从这抑里转出来的。唐诗里登台怀仙的题目很多，多数以怅惘作结，这首偏以痛饮作结，痛快处正在不执着。

The Immortal-Greeting Terrace, tradition says, was built by Emperor Wen of Han to watch for the River Hermit, an immortal. The third couplet sets two local legends side by side: the warden of the pass is Yin Xi, who saw the purple vapor at Hangu Pass and knew Laozi; the immortal of the river is the River Hermit, whom Wen once visited in person for the Way. Cui Shu adds no commentary — only two exclamatory questions, who could know him now, gone and does not return, and the futility of seeking immortals is said entire. This couplet is the poem's hinge: the first two couplets raise the grandeur of the climb, this one sinks it in vanished traces, and the chrysanthemum cups of the close turn out of that sinking. Many Tang poems climb terraces to long for immortals and end in wistfulness; this one ends in hard drinking, and its good cheer lies precisely in not clinging.

彭泽宰指做过彭泽县令的陶渊明，陶渊明又是重阳菊酒的代名词——「采菊东篱下」的作者。崔曙用这个称呼呈给同游的刘县令，一顶帽子两层意思：既比其人有陶令之风，又暗含邀他重阳共醉。应酬诗容易写成客套，这两句的好处是把客套写成了兴致：且欲、近寻、陶然，三个词都是松弛的，像是临时起意。唐代官场称对方官职是常礼，用典故代官称则多一层风雅；刘明府读到彭泽宰三字，即便知道是套话，大约也愿意领这个情。

The magistrate of Pengze is Tao Yuanming, who held that post — and Tao is the very emblem of chrysanthemums and wine on the Double Ninth, author of the line picking chrysanthemums by the eastern hedge. Cui Shu bestows the name on his fellow-climber Magistrate Liu, and the cap has two layers: it likens the man to Tao, and it invites him to drink on this very festival. Occasion poems slide easily into mere courtesy; the strength of these two lines is that the courtesy becomes high spirits: for now, nearby, cheerfully — all three words are loose, as if the plan had just come up. Addressing an official by his office was ordinary etiquette in Tang society; replacing the office with an allusion adds a layer of elegance. Reading the magistrate of Pengze, Liu would know it was a set phrase and be glad of it all the same.

首联的曙色开不是闲笔：这一天从早上就是晴的，所以中间两联的云山、风雨都成了远处的风景而非眼前的困扰。二陵风雨自东来是望着别处下雨，自己在高处晒着太阳。天气好，兴致才好；兴致好，结尾的酒才有来路。反过来读也有意思：如果登台遇雨，这首诗多半会写成怀古伤今。崔曙存诗不多，这首的从容——登高、望气、怀仙、约酒，四步走完不慌不忙——是盛唐七律里少见的松弛样本。

The breaking dawn of the opening couplet is not idle: a bright morning from the first means that the cloud-hills and the wind-rain of the middle couplets are distant scenery, not present trouble. Wind and rain from the Two Mounds come from the east is rain watched elsewhere while the poet stands in sunlight on the height. Fine weather makes fine spirits, and fine spirits give the closing wine its provenance. Read backward it is just as telling: had it rained on the climb, the poem would likely have turned to lamenting the past. Cui Shu left few poems, and the composure here — climb, survey, long for immortals, arrange the drinking, four steps unhurried — is a rare specimen of ease among High Tang seven-character regulated poems.