248. Peach Blossom Stream | Zhang Xu
Text
English translation
Original Chinese text
隐隐飞桥隔野烟，石矶西畔问渔船。
English translation
A high bridge appears faintly beyond the country mist. West of the rocky bank, I call out to a fishing boat.
The flying bridge seems suspended because it spans the heights, while the rocky bank projects into the water. After glimpsing a place hard to distinguish through the haze, the traveler asks someone who knows the stream for directions.
Original Chinese text
桃花尽日随流水，洞在清溪何处边？
English translation
All day peach blossoms drift down with the current. Along this clear stream, where might the hidden cave be?
The cave recalls the entrance in Tao Yuanming's Peach Blossom Spring. The floating petals suggest a secluded source upstream but never reveal its location, so the search remains suspended along the banks of the clear water.
赏析 · Commentary
先有线索，没有答案 · Clues Without an Answer
桥、烟、石矶、渔船和桃花都能看见，真正要找的洞口却始终看不见。诗的趣味不在抵达桃源，而在沿水寻找：烟雾遮住远景，流水送来花瓣，渔人可能知道道路，但结尾仍是一个问题。读者因此和问路的人一起停在溪边。
The bridge, mist, rocks, boat, and blossoms are all visible; the cave being sought never is. The poem's pleasure lies not in reaching Peach Blossom Spring but in tracing its signs along the water. Haze conceals the distance, the current delivers petals, and the fisherman may know the way, yet the poem ends with a question. Reader and traveler remain together beside the stream.
借典故写眼前景 · A Literary Allusion Rooted in the Scene
这首诗借用了桃花源，却没有复述陶渊明的故事。眼前的桃花、溪流和渔船足以唤起那个典故，随后诗人只问洞口在哪里。典故因此不是答案，而是一种看风景的方法：普通溪谷因为花从上游漂来，突然有了通往别处的可能。
The poem invokes Peach Blossom Spring without retelling Tao Yuanming's tale. Blossoms, stream, and fishing boat are enough to call the story to mind, after which the poet asks only where the cave might be. The allusion is not an answer but a way of seeing: an ordinary valley, once petals drift down from upstream, may open toward another world.