Twilight leans on the water's edge
[Jin Dynasty] Wang Huan
The west wind of the water country swayed slightly, and the people were chaotic as silk.
Dafu Zeban was at the barn, when Sima Jiangtou bid farewell.
The elders are hurting me, and this heart is only known to the other.
Cang Yanhua's hair is as promised, and it is too late to hang up the crown.
Translations
The autumn breeze in the water country was shaken by the west wind to shake off the yellow leaves, and my mood was stirred up like a strand of hair as I drifted outside.
It is like a place where Qu Yuan recited affectionately by the river, and it is like a farewell time when Bai Juyi said goodbye by the river.
How can you denigrate the morals that have slandered me, for this thought of mine is known only to the heavens.
Her pale countenance had now added a little gray hair, and it was too late to resign and go into hiding.
exegesis
Doctor: This refers to Qu Yuan.
Zepan: The shore of the lake.
Appreciation
The poem was composed when Wang Huan was demoted to Cai Prefecture in Henan.
The first link indicates the place, season and mood. The jurisdiction of Cai Prefecture roughly corresponds to the area north of the Huai River in present-day Henan and south of the upper reaches of the Honghe River, and when the roads of Bei, Luo, Huai, and Chu are connected, the author uses the name "Water Country" instead. The autumn wind flutters, everything is depressed, and the nature that is gently "shaken" by the autumn wind is a piece of yellow leaf. Looking at the yellow leaves that swirled, struggled, and finally landed on the ground in the autumn wind, and thought of his own life and fate that withered and drifted like yellow leaves, how could the poet of "the sun and the water of the cane" not be full of thoughts and chaotic? In this connection, the sentence is the cause, and the sentence is the effect; the first sentence writes the scene, the second sentence is lyrical, the scene is specific, and the lyric is summarized, so that people can't wait to understand what the "bondage" that is stirred by the autumn wind and knotted in the poet's heart is. The following six sentences are the total outbreak of the author's long-accumulated worries and grievances, and each link expresses a separate layer of meaning.
The author's intention is obvious: Upright patriotism is like Qu Yuan, and when the people are worried about themselves, they are like self-reliance, and they are inevitably degraded and deposed, let alone themselves. However, although they are not as deep as Qu Yuan and Bai Juyi, the noble virtues, broad minds, and firm chastity they possess are also like one or two.
Therefore, the neck link directly rebuked the treacherous villains who specialized in fabricating crimes and trapping themselves in the land of injustice, although they tried their best to trap the virtuous and succeeded for a while, but the heavens were at ease, the morality was still there, the ghosts and gods could be learned, and the heavens knew. If it is said that "when The Doctor Ze pan walked the bar, when Sima Jiangtou bid farewell" is the author's use of the ancients to write about the fact that he has suffered grievances and who officials are in a foreign land, then the two sentences, "Ershi He hurt my way, this heart is only known to him" are direct expressions of the author's dissatisfaction with this fait accompli and resentment, which includes both contempt for the villain who has fallen into sin and expresses self-confidence in his own personality.
But the reality is harsh after all, and the tail link clearly reveals the author's original low mood in the face of the fact that the adulterer is in charge, the monarch is widowed, the injustice is hopeless, and the future is uncertain. Since ancient times, the officialdom has been a place of right and wrong, some people have soared to the top, some people have been wronged, if you want to relieve these troubles, resigning from the official and going into hiding, sending love to the landscape is a way out. However, today's author Eunuch Sea has been ups and downs, tortured several times, "pale face and gorgeous hair", and hanging down to old age. After experiencing such physical and mental pain, even if he resigns from the government and goes into hiding, the author is too late and too late, let alone the person who has been convicted, who is bound to the body, and does not have the freedom to resign from the official? The author writes more deeply about the remorse after his demotion and frustration, compared with the jaw joint and the neck joint, although it seems depressed and dull, it makes people feel late, but at the same time, it can also arouse more sympathy for the author who is unfortunate and old and haggard.
Judging from the title of the poem, the sunset in the west reflects the sparkling and scaly water, and the author leans on the staff to stand at the water's edge, and the scenery that comes into view is far more than the sentence "The west wind of the water country shakes down". However, the author has no intention of looking at the scene, except for this sentence, the whole poem hardly touches any specific scene that is actually in front of him, which shows how complex and deep the "bondage" that fills his heart is, so that if it is slightly touched by external objects, it will leak out like a river that breaks the embankment, and gush endlessly.
Source: Tang poetry song poetry ancient poems