青溪

王維

言入黃花川， 每逐青溪水。

隨山將萬轉， 趣途無百里。

聲喧亂石中， 色靜深松里。

漾漾泛菱荇， 澄澄映葭葦。

我心素已閑， 清川澹如此。

請留盤石上， 垂釣將已矣。

注釋：

①言：發語詞，無義。

②黃花川：陜西省鳳縣水名。

③萬轉：形容山路千回萬轉。

④趣途：趣，通"趨"。前往的路程。

⑤泛：飄浮。

⑥菱荇：泛指水草。

⑦澄澄：清澈透明。

⑧葭葦：泛指蘆葦。

⑨澹：安靜，澹泊。

⑩將已矣：將留此終身。

A Green Stream

Wang Wei

I have sailed the River of Yellow Flowers,

Borne by the channel of a green stream,

Rounding ten thousand turns through the mountains

On a journey of less than thirty miles.

Rapids hum over heaped rocks;

But where light grows dim in the thick pines,

The surface of an inlet sways with nut-horns

And weeds are lush along the banks.

Down in my heart I have always been as pure

As this limpid water is.

Oh, to remain on a broad flat rock

And to cast a fishing-line forever!

About the poet:

Wang Wei(699-759) was a poet, artist and musician. He also served in court as a high ranking official until the death of his wife when he retired into a Buddhist monastery on the banks of the river Wang. In Wang Wei’s poetry the landscape is clearly seen through the eyes of the painter, and written mainly in quatrains, his descriptions of mountains, valleys and the rare contact with other people is displayed in a very concrete image. Much of his work give an insight into the weekend countryside retreats which many courtiers used to escape the pressure of high society court protocol, and teach us the value of nature through the Buddhist perception.

Notes:

hum vt.& vi.發出嗡嗡聲; 哼唱

inlet n.水灣, 小灣

nut-horn 荇草

limpid adj. 清澈的,透明的

The poem describes the scenary of a unknown river. The poet uses musicallanguage to show us a harmonious pastoral picture. The peace and tranquility of the countryside lines with the inner feelings of the poet.