288. 瑶池（李商隐）
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现代汉语译文
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瑶池阿母绮窗开，黄竹歌声动地哀。
现代汉语译文
瑶池上的西王母打开了雕花的窗子，盼着周穆王；那《黄竹歌》的歌声，哀切得震动大地。
“瑶池”是神话中西王母所居之地；“阿母”即西王母；“绮窗开”写她倚窗而望，似在等待。“黄竹歌声”用《穆天子传》的记载：周穆王南游时遇风雪，作《黄竹》之歌哀怜受寒的人；这里说歌声“动地哀”，既写其悲，也暗透等待者的失望。
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八骏日行三万里，穆王何事不重来？
现代汉语译文
那八匹骏马一天能跑三万里，周穆王为什么却不再回来呢？
“八骏”是周穆王的八匹名马，相传能日行三万里，极言其往来神速。“穆王”曾西游至瑶池会见西王母，临别约期再会。“何事不重来”以问作结：既然他车马神速，为何爽约？答案是穆王终究会死——所谓长生、重会，本是虚妄。诗借神话讽求仙。
赏析 · Commentary
神话背后的一问 · The Question Behind the Myth
前两句把西王母写得像一个等不到人的女子：窗儿开着，歌声哀切。后两句点出周穆王的车马本可一日万里，却再没有来。这一问表面是问穆王，实际是问“长生不死”到底有没有。诗人不正面驳斥求仙，只用一个迟迟不来的人就把话说尽。
The opening couplet makes the Queen Mother like a woman who waits and waits: the window open, the song grieving. The closing couplet notes that King Mu's horses could cross ten thousand li in a day, yet he never came again. The question seems to ask about King Mu but really asks whether immortality exists at all. The poet never argues against the quest for long life; one person who never arrives says it all.
等的人为什么不来 · Why the Waited-For Never Comes
穆王与西王母的故事本是神仙传说，李商隐却把它还原成人间的情事：一个开窗等待，一个约定重来。八骏再快也没用，因为穆王是凡人之躯，终有一死。晚唐帝王多好神仙方术，这首诗的讽意，正藏在那句看似天真的“何事不重来”里。
The tale of King Mu and the Queen Mother belongs to immortal lore, but Li Shangyin reduces it to a human affair: one waits by an open window, one promises to return. However fast the eight steeds, they are useless, for King Mu is mortal and must die. The late Tang emperors were fond of immortals and elixirs, and the satire of this poem hides in the seemingly innocent words why has he not come again.