Guest to 1
Tang Du Fu 2
Shenanshe 3 North are spring water 4, but see flocks of gulls coming day by day.
Flower path 5 has not been swept by guests, and Pengmen 6 is now open for Jun.
Pan Yi 7 City is far from the taste of 8, Bottle Restaurant poor only old Daisy 9.
Ken drank opposite his neighbor and called out the remaining cups 10 from the fence.
【Notes】
1 Guest arrival: Guest arrival; the poet notes that it is "Xi Cui Ming Mansion Passing By". Mingfu: Originally meant to be a large government or a government office, it was called a Mingfu because it had to be established in accordance with a clear decree. During the Han and Wei dynasties, it was mostly used to honor the officials of the county shou level, also known as the county order, and after the Tang Dynasty, it was specifically called the county order.
2 Du Fu: A famous Poet of the Tang Dynasty, see the commentary on "Remembering Li Bai in Spring".
3 Shè: The house, in this case the author's cottage.
4 Spring water: The water of the rivers and ponds in spring is mostly green, giving people a feeling of vitality and agility.
5 Flower Path: Flower Path.
6 Pengmen: Courtyard doors made of bales of fluffy grass, mostly referring to the doors of poor people's homes.
7 Plates (xiǎng): Serve dishes to guests. 飨: The original meaning is that the townspeople get together to drink, and by extension, to entertain guests.
8 Conjugation: Two or more dishes. CUM: And.
9 Pēi: Aged and unfiltered wine. Pickles: Wine that is cloudy because it has not been filtered.
10+ cups: The remaining few glasses of wine.
The whole poem goes something like this: the north and south sides of the house are all spring running water, and only flocks of gulls and birds are seen coming every day. The flower path in the courtyard has not been cleaned for the sake of the guests, and the courtyard door made of basil is only opened for you today. Serve guests with plates of dishes, have no second course because they are far from the market, toast guests with sake bottles, and only old, unfiltered wine because of their poverty. Willing to drink with the old man next door, he called over through the fence to drink the remaining cups.
First link first writes about its own environment to explain what kind of place the guests will be visiting. Front and back of the water, flocks of gulls, a quiet and peaceful place. Concise and clear words are also not lost. Water is spring water, the water potential is just right, when the spring water rises, it is also the time when spring ripples and everything grows. With this word, the poet points out the time of the guest's visit, and renders the environment full of spring and vitality. Flocks of gulls are often seen as the companions of hermits, and the poet uses "but see" to write about the tranquility of the place, to write his love for this quiet place, but also to reveal the loneliness of no one to share this beauty. Therefore, in the heart of the poet, he should look forward to a visit from a friend.
The turn of the jaw is the poet's warm welcome to his friend. This sentence means that the path in the courtyard of the grass hall has not yet been swept, and the simple door of the house is also opened for friends for the first time. The first layer of this link writes that there are few visitors, and it is responding to the first link, and the two sentences echo another meaning: there are few guests here, which is not unrelated to the poet's rare invitation. Looking at it in this way, it highlights the specialness of friends and the enthusiasm of poets. And this link is said in a dialogue tone, which is more cordial.
The writer of the neck link frequently apologized for the simplicity of the wine and dishes he prepared. Although it is an apology, it reveals a joyful atmosphere. The host's infinite enthusiasm is mixed with a little shame and frequent persuasion, and the guests respond sincerely and drink with the poet. This combination is written in blunt words, and the sincere guilt is very obvious.
The tail link is a place where the poet and his friends discuss whether they can call the neighbor to drink together. Here, like the neck link, the poet does not focus on describing the panoramic view of the wine, but through a detail, to show the picture of the host and the guest. When friends are not in a very high mood for drinking, how can they pull their neighbors so casually to accompany them?
The latter two couplets are written about the scene of the poet entertaining the guests to eat, but the picture of the host and the guest drinking is not described, but only from the side to set off, and both show the frank, straightforward, and kind points of the host and the guest, so that the verses are more approachable and have a special interest in life.