272. Written at the Jinling Ferry | Zhang Hu
Text
English translation
Original Chinese text
金陵津渡小山楼，一宿行人自可愁。
English translation
In the little hill tower by the Jinling ferry, a traveler lodged for a single night is bound to feel sorrow.
The Jinling ferry is a crossing on the river; the little hill tower is the inn beside it. A single night marks the stay as brief, and bound to feel sorrow means that, alone by the river, the traveler's melancholy arises without any outward cause.
Original Chinese text
潮落夜江斜月里，两三星火是瓜州。
English translation
The tide ebbs; through the low moonlight the night river stretches, and a few scattered lights mark Guazhou on the far bank.
The ebbing tide and the slanting moon both belong to deep night. A few scattered lights means the lamps are sparse, reduced across the water to a handful of points; that they mark Guazhou is the traveler recognizing the far shore by their glow.
赏析 · Commentary
一夜愁从何而来 · Where the Night's Sorrow Comes From
首句已经交代这是一个暂住的旅人，第二句干脆说他“自可愁”。诗没有写他为何离乡、要去哪里，只说这样的夜晚本身就叫人发愁。地点、身份、时长，三样凑齐，愁就有了着落。
The opening line establishes a traveler staying only briefly, and the second says outright that he is bound to feel sorrow. The poem never explains why he left home or where he is going; it says only that a night like this is enough to make anyone sad. Place, traveler, and a single night—together they give the sorrow its ground.
灯火把远方缩成两三点 · A Few Lights Shrink the Distance
后两句从近处的江潮、斜月写到对岸的瓜州。瓜州本是很远的地方，诗人只用“两三星火”来指认它，距离便成了几个亮点。夜深、潮落、灯火稀疏，合成一个极安静、也极空旷的江景，愁绪并未说破，却落在这片空旷里。
The last two lines move from the nearby tide and moon to Guazhou across the river. Guazhou lies far away, yet the poet identifies it only by a few scattered lights, so the distance is reduced to a handful of points. Late night, ebbing tide, and sparse lamps make a scene both very still and very empty; the sorrow is never named, but it settles into that emptiness.