120. 送李中丞归汉阳别业（刘长卿）
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现代汉语译文
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流落征南将，曾驱十万师。
现代汉语译文
这位漂泊失意的南征老将，当年曾统率十万大军。
「流落」与「十万师」并置，一句话就写出落差。李中丞是作者的朋友，官至御史中丞。
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罢官无旧业，老去恋明时。
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罢官之后没有旧日的家业可守，年纪老了，却还贪恋这清明的时代。
「无旧业」是说连退路都没有。「恋明时」三个字最复杂：未必真是盛世让他留恋，更像是不肯认输。
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独立三边静，轻生一剑知。
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他一度独自镇守，使三面边地安宁；不惜性命的气概，只有那一柄剑知道。
「三边」泛指边疆。「一剑知」是无人可诉的意思——功劳没有人记得，剑是他唯一的证人。
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茫茫江汉上，日暮欲何之？
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茫茫的江汉之上，天就要黑了，他还能往哪里去呢？
江汉指长江、汉水一带，是他归去的地方。以问句作结，问的是去处，也是后半生。
赏析 · Commentary
送别诗，落在被送的人身上 · A Farewell Poem That Stays on the One Sent Off
题是「送」，但全诗几乎不写送别的情谊，只写李中丞这个人：他曾经的军功、罢官后的窘境、老去的处境，最后是归途的茫然。这种写法把送别诗从「我的不舍」转到「你的境遇」上。作者本人只在末句现身一次，用「欲何之」三个字代为发问，位置摆得很低——这也是对一位失势老将最合适的位置。
The title says farewell, but the poem barely touches the farewell. It stays on Li himself: his past commands, his straits after dismissal, his age, and at last the bewilderment of the road home. The shift takes the poem off "my reluctance" and onto "your situation." The author appears only once, in the last line, asking "where will he go" on the other man's behalf, and stands low — which is exactly the right place to stand beside a general who has lost his position.
「恋明时」的三种读法 · Three Readings of "Clinging to a Bright Age"
这三个字可以读成颂扬，也可以读成反讽，还可以读成自我安慰。刘长卿把这个不稳定的短语放在第二联正中，恰恰是它的好处：无论哪种读法，罢官的损失都在。「无旧业」与「恋明时」成一对比——就算时代真的好，他也没有家业、没有差事，好时代不属于他。
The phrase can be read as praise, as irony, or as self-consolation. That instability is exactly why Liu Changqing puts it at the centre of the second couplet: under any reading, the loss of office stands. "No old estate" against "clinging to a bright age" makes a contrast — even if the times were good, he has no estate and no post; the good age is not his.
结尾的问句交给了别人 · "Where Will He Go": The Question Handed to Another
末句的问号不是自问，是作者替对方问的。这个安排让全诗的情感有处可去：作者知道答案不好，所以不自己回答，也不安慰。前六句全用陈述句，把事实一条条摆出来，末句忽然改问，节奏一变，所有事实就都变成了疑问的理由。这是唐诗收尾常用的手法——用句式的变化代替抒情的加强。
The question mark is not the poet asking himself; he asks it for the other man. That arrangement gives the feeling somewhere to go: the poet knows the answer is bad, so he neither supplies it nor consoles. The first six lines are all statements, facts set down one by one, and the sudden turn to a question changes the rhythm, so that every fact becomes a reason to ask. This is a standard Tang ending — a change of syntax in place of louder feeling.