123. 新年作（刘长卿）
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现代汉语译文
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乡心新岁切，天畔独潸然。
现代汉语译文
新年来到，思乡的心格外急迫；我独自在天边，止不住地流泪。
「切」是迫切，「天畔」是极远之地。新年本是团圆的日子，反衬出独处的落差。
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老至居人下，春归在客先。
现代汉语译文
年纪老了还屈居人下，春天回去了，却比我这客居的人先到家。
「春归在客先」是名句：春天都能归去，人却不能，比较的对象是季节。这一句的巧处在于怨而不露。
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岭猿同旦暮，江柳共风烟。
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岭南的猿猴与我早晚相伴，江边的柳树与我同受风烟。
「同」「共」两个字把不相干的东西拉成同伴，反过来说就是没有一个人可以同。
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已似长沙傅，从今又几年。
现代汉语译文
我已经像被贬长沙的贾谊，从今往后还要再过几年？
长沙傅指贾谊，被贬为长沙王太傅三年。末句以问句收，问的是年限，也是能不能回去。
赏析 · Commentary
贬谪诗的典型结构 · The Standard Shape of an Exile Poem
这首诗是刘长卿被贬南巴（今属广东）时所作。四联正好是贬谪诗的四步：写处境（新年独处）、写身份（老而位卑）、写环境（猿与柳）、引古人自比（贾谊）。顺序上从当下到历史，从近到远，最后落在不确定的将来上。这类诗的结构高度定型，好坏就看每一句是否写得实。
Liu Changqing wrote this while exiled to Nanba, in what is now Guangdong. The four couplets are the four steps of an exile poem: situation (alone at New Year), standing (old and low in rank), surroundings (gibbons and willows), and finally a historical parallel (Jia Yi). The order runs from present to past and from near to far, ending on an uncertain future. The form is highly fixed; what matters is whether each line is concretely written.
第二联为什么最有名 · Why the Second Couplet Is Best Known
「春归在客先」好在用了一个不可能的比较。春天没有家，诗人却让春天先到；这一让，就把自己排到了比季节还不如的位置。后半联的「老至居人下」是直说，前半联是曲说，两句合起来才完整：直说的是事实，曲说的是感受。唐诗常把这两样配在一联里，读起来就有层次。
"Spring goes home ahead of the traveller" works because it makes an impossible comparison. Spring has no home, yet the poet lets it arrive first, which files him below a season. The latter half, "old and under others," states plainly; the former half turns. Together they complete each other: one gives the fact, one the feeling. Tang verse often pairs the two inside one couplet, and the reading gains depth.
用贾谊结，是抬高自己还是压低自己 · Ending on Jia Yi: Elevation or Lowering?
把自己比作贾谊，一半是自认才高（贾谊是汉代大才），一半是自认命薄（贾谊被贬且早逝）。这两种意思同时成立，正是这个典故在这里合适的原因。刘长卿没有说「我何时能回」，只问「又几年」，语气从自比退回到计算日子——最后剩下的还是具体的时间和一个回不去的家。
Comparing himself to Jia Yi is half a claim to talent (Jia was a great talent of the Han) and half a claim to hard luck (Jia was exiled and died young). Both meanings hold at once, which is why the allusion fits here. Liu Changqing does not ask when he may return, only "how many years more," and the tone retreats from the grand parallel to counting days — what remains is a specific span of time and a home he cannot get back to.