117. 留别王维（孟浩然）
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现代汉语译文
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寂寂竟何待，朝朝空自归。
现代汉语译文
这样冷落地等着，究竟在等什么？天天都是一个人空着手回来。
连用「寂寂」「朝朝」两个叠字，把等待的漫长和空白一起写出来。「空自归」是说自己每天出门求荐、又每天无功而返。
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欲寻芳草去，惜与故人违。
现代汉语译文
我本想去找一片芳草之地归隐，却又舍不得和你这位老朋友分别。
「芳草」在唐诗里常指隐逸的去处。这两句是走到了岔路口：一边是退隐，一边是留在长安的这段交情。
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当路谁相假，知音世所稀。
现代汉语译文
掌权的人里有谁肯拉我一把？真正懂我的人在世上太少了。
「当路」指当权者，「假」是借力、给面子。上句问而不答，下句自答——稀少的人里，王维算一个。
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只应守寂寞，还掩故园扉。
现代汉语译文
看来我只能守着这一份寂寞，回去关上草庐的门。
首联的「寂寂」到末句变成「守寂寞」，同一处境由被动等待转为主动接受。收在「掩扉」上，一个关闭的动作，话说尽了。
赏析 · Commentary
留给王维的告别信 · A Farewell Note Left for Wang Wei
这是孟浩然入长安求仕失败后，离开前写给王维的诗。四联的次序正是一次决定的过程：先说等不下去了，再说本来想走却舍不得，再问一句有没有人肯帮忙，最后自己回答——没有了，关门回家。诗里没有怨气，也没有强作豁达，只是把路走完了。留在末句的那个「掩」字，比任何一句牢骚都重。
This is the poem Meng Haoran wrote for Wang Wei before leaving Chang'an, after his attempt to obtain office there had failed. The four couplets are a single act of deciding: first that waiting is over, then that he had meant to go yet hates to part, then the question whether anyone will help, then his own answer — no one, so shut the door and go home. There is no grievance in it and no forced cheer; it simply walks the road to its end. The final word "shut" weighs more than any complaint would.
叠字用得像心跳 · Doubled Words Like a Pulse
「寂寂」「朝朝」放在一起，读起来拖沓，拖沓正是要的效果——把「等」这个动作拉长。第三联的「谁相假」如果写成平叙，就成了抱怨；用问句，语气就轻，反倒更沉。孟浩然很少用重笔，这首诗里最重的字是「稀」和「守」，都是克制过的写法。
"Quiet, quiet" beside "day after day" reads slowly, and the slowness is the point: it stretches out the act of waiting. Were the third couplet's "who will lend a hand" written as plain statement, it would be a complaint; cast as a question it stays light, and that lightness presses harder. Meng Haoran seldom uses a heavy stroke. The heaviest words here, "rare" and "keep," are both restrained.
不写长安，长安都在里面 · Chang'an Never Named, Chang'an Everywhere
全诗没有一处提到长安，但「空自归」「当路」「知音稀」每一句都指向在京城谋事的现实。这是唐诗里常见的手法：把制度性的处境化成个人感受来写。读者不需要知道唐代荐举制度的细节，也能感到那种投书无门、只能回家的处境。具体的人情比制度的说明留得更久。
Chang'an is never mentioned, yet "going home to nothing," "those in power," and "few who understand" all point at the reality of seeking a career in the capital. This is a common Tang move: institutional circumstance rendered as personal feeling. A reader need know nothing about Tang recommendation practice to feel what it is to knock at doors and go home. A concrete human situation outlasts an explanation of the system.