What should I do if I originally agreed on something with my friend, but I can't go there temporarily? Some people say, isn't that simple? Just make a phone call or send a WeChat to explain. However, in ancient times, when communication means were not developed, it was often impossible to notify friends in time. Therefore, the ancients attached great importance to the agreement, even if the friend broke the contract, the other person would insist on waiting. The Song Dynasty poet Zhao Shixiu expressed this consciousness in the poem "There is a Covenant", the original text of which is as follows:
In the yellow plum season, the family rains, and the grass pond is full of frogs.
There is about no night and a half, idle knocking chess pieces to drop the lights and flowers.
"Yellow plum season home rain", late spring and early summer, when the plums are ripe, every household is shrouded in smoke and rain. The poet, however, used the phrase "family rain" to write about the phenomenon of continuous rain during the rainy season. What are the benefits of writing this way? First, "rainy and rainy" can only write from a natural point of view that the plum rainy season lasts for a long time, while "home rain" emphasizes a kind of space, and the poet skillfully expresses linear time with a sense of space; second, "home" gives people a sense of life, and during the rainy season, every household cannot live out, giving people a sense of leisure and warmth.
"Frogs everywhere in the grass pond", the sound of frogs in the grassy pond near the shore. The rainy season is the season when frogs breed. At this time, the rain is continuous and the pool is full, providing a unique habitat for the frogs. So the frogs squawked freely, which was a state of life. With "frogs everywhere", the poet successfully let readers experience the vitality of life that bursts out in the rainy season, in the water town of Jiangnan.
"There is no appointment to spend the night and a half", the time is past midnight, but the guests who are invited to the appointment have not yet arrived. The poet was indoors, listening to the sound of rain and frogs outside, and sat waiting for the arrival of the guests. Seeing that the agreed time has passed, the guest has not yet arrived. Maybe it's because it's raining and it's hard to walk on the road? So the poet continued to wait, even after midnight, unwilling to break the contract. Until this time, the poet still had a faint hope in his heart, if a friend came in the rain and did not wait, how could it be good?
"Idle knocking chess pieces falling on the lights", I gently tapped the table with the chess pieces in my hand, waiting for the guests, only to see the lights fall down after a while... Before the friend arrived, the poet sat bored, and his heart could not help but feel a little lost. However, the poet did not directly write about the inner feeling, but expressed this feeling through the two actions of "knocking on the chess pieces" and "looking at the lights and flowers", which added a subtle beauty to the poetry.
Rainy weather, at night, the friend's appointment is excusable, the poet did not accuse the friend of not abiding by the agreement, but asked for himself, regardless of whether the friend did not break the agreement, but he kept the agreement, even if the agreed time passed, he still insisted on waiting. It is a blessing in life to make friends with a person like the poet who keeps his promise, and I believe that after the rain has passed, the guest who broke the appointment will definitely visit...