Li Bai is widely recognized as one of the greatest poets in Chinese history.

 

寄东鲁二稚子

吴地[1]桑叶绿,

吴蚕已三眠[2]。

我家寄东鲁[3],

谁种龟阴田[4]?

春事[5]已不及,

江行复茫然。

南风吹归心,

飞堕酒楼前。

楼东一株桃,

枝叶拂青烟[6]。

此树我所种,

别来向三年[7]。

桃今与楼齐,

我行尚未旋。

娇女字平阳,

折花倚桃边。

折花不见我,

泪下如流泉。

小儿名伯禽,

与姐亦齐肩。

双行桃树下,

抚背复谁怜?

念此失次第[8],

肝肠日忧煎。

裂素[9]写远意,

因之汶阳川。

这是李白写给自己两个孩子的家书。公元748至750年,李白游金陵,思念他寄居东鲁的家人,故有此篇。诗人看到吴地春景,即景生情,想到家中春天正是农事繁忙之际,而自己浪迹江湖,一事无成,龟山北面的田园正不知该找谁代耕。念及此,不禁心生焦虑。春天的农事已来不及了,而今后仍漂泊不定,不知归期。每每思家,家里熟悉的一切都会浮现眼前:那小酒楼,那棵亲手种下的桃树。作者对家中的一切倾注了深厚的感情,为下文引出对儿女的思念营造了浓厚的氛围。诗人写对儿女的思念,先不言自己相思之情,而从儿女思父的角度入手,一片思念之情,自然流泻。最后从想象当中回归现实,将相思寄于汶水。毋庸置疑,诗人情景并茂的奇丽想象,是这首诗神韵飞动、感人至深的重要原因。

注释:

[1]吴地:今江苏一带,春秋时属吴国。

[2]三眠:蚕蜕皮时,不食不动,其状如眠。蚕历经三眠,方能吐丝结茧。

[3]东鲁:今山东一带,春秋时属鲁国。

[4]龟阴田:此处指李白在山东的田地。

[5]春事:春日耕种之事。

[6]拂青烟:拂动的青烟,形容枝繁叶茂状。

[7]向三年:快到三年了。

[8]失次第:心绪不定,七上八下。

[9]裂素:指准备书写工具之意;素,绢素,古代作书画的白绢。

Written for My Two Children in East Lu[1]

Mulberry leaves in Southern land are green,

The silkworms thrice in sleep must have been.

In Eastern Lu my family stay still.

Who’d help to sow our fields north of Lu Hill?

It’s now too late to do farmwork of spring.

What then am I to do while travelling?

The southern wind is blowing without stop,

My heart flies back to my old familiar wine shop.

East of the shop there’s a peach tree I’ve missed,

Its branches must be waving in bluish mist.

It is the tree I plant’d three years ago,

If it has grown to reach the roof,I don’t know.

I have not been at home for three long years.

I can imagine my daughter appears

Beside the tree and plucks a flower pink.

Without seeing me,she must have,I think,

Shed copious tears.My younger son has grown

Up to his sister’s shoulders.’Neath full-blown.

Peach tree they stand side by side.But who’s there

To pat them on the back?I feel,whene’er

I think of this,so painful that I write

And send to them this poem on silk white.

注释:

[1]Present-day Shandong Province.