当代 当代 · 诗 Poem
相信未来
Believe in the Future
当蜘蛛网无情地查封了我的炉台，当灰烬的余烟叹息着贫困的悲哀，我依然固执地铺平失望的灰烬，用美丽的雪花写下：相信未来。
当我的紫葡萄化为深秋的露水，当我的鲜花依偎在别人的情怀，我依然固执地用凝霜的枯藤，在凄凉的大地上写下：相信未来。
我要用手指那涌向天边的排浪，我要用手掌那托住太阳的大海，摇曳着曙光那枝温暖漂亮的笔杆，用孩子的笔体写下：相信未来。
我之所以坚定地相信未来，是我相信未来人们的眼睛——她有拨开历史风尘的睫毛，她有看透岁月篇章的瞳孔。
不管人们对于我们腐烂的皮肉，那些迷途的惆怅、失败的苦痛，是寄予感动的热泪、深切的同情，还是给以轻蔑的微笑、辛辣的嘲讽。
我坚信人们对于我们的脊骨，那无数次的探索、迷途、失败和成功，一定会给予热情、客观、公正的评定，是的，我焦急地等待着他们的评定。
朋友，坚定地相信未来吧，相信不屈不挠的努力，相信战胜死亡的年轻，相信未来，热爱生命。
Show full original poem
当蜘蛛网无情地查封了我的炉台，当灰烬的余烟叹息着贫困的悲哀，我依然固执地铺平失望的灰烬，用美丽的雪花写下：相信未来。
当我的紫葡萄化为深秋的露水，当我的鲜花依偎在别人的情怀，我依然固执地用凝霜的枯藤，在凄凉的大地上写下：相信未来。
我要用手指那涌向天边的排浪，我要用手掌那托住太阳的大海，摇曳着曙光那枝温暖漂亮的笔杆，用孩子的笔体写下：相信未来。
我之所以坚定地相信未来，是我相信未来人们的眼睛——她有拨开历史风尘的睫毛，她有看透岁月篇章的瞳孔。
不管人们对于我们腐烂的皮肉，那些迷途的惆怅、失败的苦痛，是寄予感动的热泪、深切的同情，还是给以轻蔑的微笑、辛辣的嘲讽。
我坚信人们对于我们的脊骨，那无数次的探索、迷途、失败和成功，一定会给予热情、客观、公正的评定，是的，我焦急地等待着他们的评定。
朋友，坚定地相信未来吧，相信不屈不挠的努力，相信战胜死亡的年轻，相信未来，热爱生命。
When the drifting smoke of ash sighs over the sorrow of poverty,
I still stubbornly smooth the ashes of despair,
And write with beautiful snowflakes: Believe in the future.
When my purple grapes have turned into late-autumn dew,
When my flowers lean against another's breast,
I still stubbornly use the frost-frozen dead vine,
And write on the desolate earth: Believe in the future.
I want to use my fingertips - those breakers running to the edge of the sky,
I want to use my palms - that sea which holds up the sun,
Swaying the warm and lovely pen of dawn,
I write in a child's hand: Believe in the future.
Why I believe in the future so steadily is this: I believe in the eyes of the people yet to come -
They have lashes that part the dust of history,
They have pupils that read through the chapters of the years.
Whether men give our rotten flesh -
those lost roads of sorrow, the bitterness of failure -
the warm tears of sympathy, deep compassion,
Or the contemptuous smile, the bitter mockery,
I firmly believe that for our spines,
For those countless searches, wanderings, failures and successes,
Men will give a warm, objective, just judgement.
Yes, I wait impatiently for that judgement.
Friend, believe in the future, and hold fast:
Believe in the effort that never bends,
Believe in youth that conquers death,
Believe in the future, love life.
Meaning
Written in 1968 and handed around in manuscript, this lyric refuses to let hardship silence the speaker. Each stanza opens with a 'when' of deprivation - web-sealed stove, ash, grapes turned to dew - and answers it with a defiant 'believe in the future'. The middle movement turns outward, addressing the eyes of future generations that can read through the dust of history. The poem closes by handing the reader the same four beliefs: effort that never bends, youth that conquers death, belief in the future and love of life.
当蜘蛛网无情地查封了我的炉台，当灰烬的余烟叹息着贫困的悲哀，我依然固执地铺平失望的灰烬，用美丽的雪花写下：相信未来。当我的紫葡萄化为深秋的露水，当我的鲜花依偎在别人的情怀，我依然固执地用凝霜的枯藤，在凄凉的大地上写下：相信未来。我要用手指那涌向天边的排浪，我要用手掌那托住太阳的大海，摇曳着曙光那枝温暖漂亮的笔杆，用孩子的笔体写下：相信未来。我之所以坚定地相信未来，是我相信未来人们的眼睛——她有拨开历史风尘的睫毛，她有看透岁月篇章的瞳孔。不管人们对于我们腐烂的皮肉，那些迷途的惆怅、失败的苦痛，是寄予感动的热泪、深切的同情，还是给以轻蔑的微笑、辛辣的嘲讽。我坚信人们对于我们的脊骨，那无数次的探索、迷途、失败和成功，一定会给予热情、客观、公正的评定，是的，我焦急地等待着他们的评定。朋友，坚定地相信未来吧，相信不屈不挠的努力，相信战胜死亡的年轻，相信未来，热爱生命。
Appreciation
【Plain Paraphrase】The speaker's stove is sealed, the smoke of ash sighs over poverty, the purple grapes have become dew and the flowers lean on another's breast - and still 'I stubbornly smooth the ashes of despair, and write with beautiful snowflakes: believe in the future'. The poem returns to that refrain three times, then argues that the judgement of the future will be fair, and finally urges the reader to believe.<br>【Structure】The engine of the poem is the stanza pattern: a conditional 'when', then a parallel 'I still ...'. Deprivation and refusal alternate like a litany, so each stanza repeats the same shape at a higher pitch.<br>【Imagery】Two semantic fields collide throughout: decay (ashes, dew, withered vine, rotten flesh) and promise (snowflakes, dawn, the sea that holds the sun, youth). The images are pinned to concrete objects and never explained.
【白话串讲】 食指写《相信未来》：“当蜘蛛网无情地查封了我的炉台，当灰烬的余烟叹息着贫困的悲哀”——“我依然固执地铺平失望的灰烬，用美丽的雪花写下：相信未来”——他写苦难中的信念——相信未来。 【意象与手法】 “当蜘蛛网无情地查封了我的炉台”以荒凉意象写困境；“我依然固执地铺平失望的灰烬，用美丽的雪花写下：相信未来”以动作写信念；“我要用手指那涌向天边的排浪，我要用手掌那托住太阳的大海”以夸张写力量。复沓与排比，意象强烈。 【情感与主旨】 在苦难与贫困中坚定信念的咏志诗，以“相信未来”的呼唤鼓舞人们在逆境中不放弃，是“朦胧诗”先驱食指的代表作，曾在知青一代中广为流传。 【名句点睛】 常考“当蜘蛛网无情地查封了我的炉台，当灰烬的余烟叹息着贫困的悲哀”以荒凉意象写困境；“相信不屈不挠的努力，相信战胜死亡的年轻”以相信未来写信念。
Background
Shi Zhi (b. 1948), born Guo Lusheng, spent his youth among educated young people sent down to the countryside at the end of the 1960s; 'Believe in the Future' was written in 1968 and circulated among friends in manuscript, becoming one of the founding texts of the poetry then called Misty, whose name only gained currency later partly through this poem. He is often described as the precursor or first poet of that school. He has also spoken publicly about his subsequent mental-health difficulties and his withdrawal from poetry.
《相信未来》为当代诗人食指所作诗。食指（1948—），原名郭路生，山东鱼台人，当代诗人，朦胧诗的先驱。此诗写信念咏志，为咏志之作。诗中「当蜘蛛网无情地查封了我的炉台，当灰烬的余烟叹息着贫困的悲哀」写当蜘蛛网无情地查封了我的炉台，当灰烬的余烟叹息着贫困的悲哀；「用美丽的雪花写下：相信未来」写用美丽的雪花写下：相信未来；「我要用手指那涌向天边的排浪，我要用手掌那托住太阳的大海」写我要用手指那涌向天边的排浪，我要用手掌那托住太阳的大海；「相信未来，热爱生命」写相信未来，热爱生命。食指此诗以信念咏志、相信未来热爱生命写其咏志之情，坚定咏志，是食指诗中的名篇。此篇《相信未来》在历代选本中多被收录，其艺术价值与流传之广，正可见此诗在同类题材中的重要地位。诗人以匠心独运之笔写寻常之情事，遂使此作历千载而犹有生气，为后人所称赏不绝。
Art
The poem needs no metre because it has a spine: the refrain 'Believe in the future' closes each of the first three stanzas, so the lyric rises with every repetition. The contrast works because the images are specific - a stove, ash, a vine, fingertips, palms - and are never glossed. The poem also stages a long argument in a single line by naming the worst that can be said about the speaker ('rotten flesh', 'bitter mockery') and then refusing to let those words have the last word. The final imperative turns the private vow into a gift to the reader.
此诗艺术上以「坚定咏志、以雪写情」见长。全诗由当蜘蛛网无情地查封了我的炉台而我依然固执地铺平失望的灰烬而我要用手指那涌向天边的排浪。起「当蜘蛛网无情地查封了我的炉台，当灰烬的余烟叹息着贫困的悲哀」写当蜘蛛网无情地查封了我的炉台：当蜘蛛网无情地查封了我的炉台，当灰烬的余烟叹息着贫困的悲哀；「我依然固执地铺平失望的灰烬，用美丽的雪花写下：相信未来」写我依然固执地铺平失望的灰烬：我依然固执地铺平失望的灰烬，用美丽的雪花写下：相信未来；「我要用手指那涌向天边的排浪，我要用手掌那托住太阳的大海」写我要用手指那涌向天边的排浪：我要用手指那涌向天边的排浪，我要用手掌那托住太阳的大海；结「相信未来，热爱生命」写相信未来热爱生命：相信未来，热爱生命。全诗以雪写情，由当蜘蛛网无情地查封了我的炉台而相信未来热爱生命，坚定咏志，是食指诗中的名篇。
Allusions
The poem leans on figures that are native to Chinese poetry without naming any source. The purple grape turning to dew recalls the classical topos of ruined beauty made precious; the 'warm and lovely pen of dawn' and the 'spine' draw on the romantic and Symbolist vocabulary that Chinese poets were rediscovering in the 1980s. More importantly, the poem addresses an implied 'future generations' - the judge who will set right the errors of the present - a figure as old as the historiographic tradition it invokes.
诗中「当蜘蛛网无情地查封了我的炉台当灰烬的余烟叹息着贫困的悲哀」「我依然固执地铺平失望的灰烬用美丽的雪花写下相信未来」「我要用手指那涌向天边的排浪我要用手掌那托住太阳的大海」「相信未来热爱生命」等语，皆含典故故实。「当蜘蛛网无情地查封了我的炉台当灰烬的余烟叹息着贫困的悲哀」写当蜘蛛网无情地查封了我的炉台当灰烬的余烟叹息着贫困的悲哀；「我依然固执地铺平失望的灰烬用美丽的雪花写下相信未来」写我依然固执地铺平失望的灰烬用美丽的雪花写下相信未来；「我要用手指那涌向天边的排浪我要用手掌那托住太阳的大海」写我要用手指那涌向天边的排浪我要用手掌那托住太阳的大海；「相信未来热爱生命」写相信未来热爱生命。诗人以未来、生命等语入诗，不着痕迹，而把信念咏志之情写得真切可感，是善于熔铸典故的体现。
Commentary
The poem came into wide circulation in the 1980s, when anthologies of Misty Poetry made Shi Zhi's name known to a whole generation, and it remains a fixture of modern Chinese recitation. Readers have long treated its refrain as a document of a particular decade - a poem written in poverty that insists on being read as prophecy. Critics have also observed that the confidence is asserted rather than argued: the speaker does not prove that the future will be just, only that he will keep believing. That stubbornness, more than the imagery, has kept the poem in print.
这首《相信未来》，是食指写信念咏志之作，写当蜘蛛网无情地查封了我的炉台、我依然固执地铺平失望的灰烬、我要用手指那涌向天边的排浪、相信未来热爱生命之情，坚定咏志。起「当蜘蛛网无情地查封了我的炉台，当灰烬的余烟叹息着贫困的悲哀」——当蜘蛛网无情地查封了我的炉台，当灰烬的余烟叹息着贫困的悲哀。写当蜘蛛网无情地查封了我的炉台：当蜘蛛网无情地查封了我的炉台、当灰烬的余烟叹息着贫困的悲哀——查封了我的炉台、贫困的悲哀；「我依然固执地铺平失望的灰烬，用美丽的雪花写下：相信未来」——我依然固执地铺平失望的灰烬，用美丽的雪花写下：相信未来。写我依然固执地铺平失望的灰烬：我依然固执地铺平失望的灰烬、用美丽的雪花写下：相信未来——铺平失望的灰烬、写下：相信未来；「我要用手指那涌向天边的排浪，我要用手掌那托住太阳的大海」——我要用手指那涌向天边的排浪，我要用手掌那托住太阳的大海。写我要用手指那涌向天边的排浪：我要用手指那涌向天边的排浪、我要用手掌那托住太阳的大海——涌向天边的排浪、托住太阳的大海；结「相信未来，热爱生命」——相信未来，热爱生命。写相信未来热爱生命：相信未来、热爱生命——相信未来、热爱生命。这「相信未来，热爱生命」，是全诗之结：以相信未来热爱生命写其咏志。全诗坚定咏志，以雪写情，正是食指诗中的名篇。
Prosody
Line by line
当蜘蛛网无情地查封了我的炉台，
When spiders' webs have sealed my stove without mercy,
当蜘蛛网无情地查封了我的炉台，
When cobwebs ruthlessly seal up my hearth,
起句写当蜘蛛网无情地查封了我的炉台，起笔即见其查封。「当蜘蛛网无情地查封了我的炉台」写当蜘蛛网无情地查封了我的炉台，「当蜘蛛网」写当蜘蛛网、「无情地查封了我的炉台」写无情地查封了我的炉台。一句写当蜘蛛网无情地查封了我的炉台，以当蜘蛛网写当蜘蛛网、以无情地查封了我的炉台写查封了我的炉台，写尽当蜘蛛网无情地查封了我的炉台之情。以查封起兴，坚定而咏志，是「以查封起兴」的妙笔。
The poem opens on poverty and abandonment. When cobwebs ruthlessly seal up my hearth—the hearth, the center of a home, has been shut down by spiders; the word seal is borrowed from the police, as if the cold room had been officially closed. The ruthless is directed at the web, but really at the age that produced it. To have said my house was derelict would be reportage; the cobwebs sealing the hearth are the dereliction.
我依然固执地铺平失望的灰烬，
I still stubbornly smooth the ashes of despair,
我依然固执地铺平失望的灰烬，
I still stubbornly smooth out the ashes of disappointment,
此句写我依然固执地铺平失望的灰烬，是全诗写铺平之态的关键。「我依然固执地」写我依然固执地，「我依然」写我依然、「固执地」写固执地；「铺平失望的灰烬」写铺平失望的灰烬，「铺平」写铺平、「失望的灰烬」写失望的灰烬。一句写我依然固执地铺平失望的灰烬，以我依然固执地写固执地、以铺平失望的灰烬写失望的灰烬，写尽我依然固执地铺平失望的灰烬之情。以灰烬写情，坚定而咏志，是「以灰烬写情」的点睛之笔。
The response is stubborn. I still stubbornly smooth out the ashes of disappointment. The fire is dead, the ashes cold, yet the speaker kneels and smooths them—as if preparing to light something. The word stubborn is the poem's signature: not hope but insistence. The ashes themselves are the prior disappointments, now arranged rather than scattered. To have said I kept trying despite despair would be sentiment; smoothing the ashes of disappointment is the stubbornness.
用美丽的雪花写下：相信未来。
And write with beautiful snowflakes: Believe in the future.
用美丽的雪花写下：相信未来。
and write with beautiful snowflakes: I believe in the future.
此句写用美丽的雪花写下：相信未来，是全诗写写下之态的关键。「用美丽的雪花」写用美丽的雪花，「用美丽的」写用美丽的、「雪花」写雪花；「写下：相信未来」写写下：相信未来，「写下」写写下、「相信未来」写相信未来。一句写用美丽的雪花写下：相信未来，以用美丽的雪花写雪花、以写下：相信未来写相信未来，写尽用美丽的雪花写下：相信未来之情。以雪写情，坚定而咏志，是「以雪写情」的点睛之笔。
The act of writing is the poem's icon. With beautiful snowflakes I write: I believe in the future. Snowflakes as a writing instrument, on what surface we are not told, but the phrase written is the title and the vow. Beautiful is the defiant word—beauty chosen over the squalor of the sealed hearth. To have said I declared my faith would be a statement; writing with snowflakes is the declaration.
我要用手指那涌向天边的排浪，
I want to use my fingertips - those breakers running to the edge of the sky,
我要用手指那涌向天边的排浪，
I will point my finger at the ranks of waves surging to the edge of the sky,
此句写我要用手指那涌向天边的排浪，是全诗写排浪之态的关键。「我要用手指」写我要用手指，「我要用」写我要用、「手指」写手指；「那涌向天边的排浪」写那涌向天边的排浪，「那涌向天边的」写那涌向天边的、「排浪」写排浪。一句写我要用手指那涌向天边的排浪，以我要用手指写用手指、以那涌向天边的排浪写排浪，写尽我要用手指那涌向天边的排浪之情。以浪写情，坚定而咏志，是「以浪写情」的点睛之笔。
The ambition expands. I will point my finger at the ranks of waves surging to the edge of the sky. The small act of writing becomes a gesture of scale: the finger points at an ocean reaching the horizon. The ranks of waves is the force the speaker claims to stand against. To have said I would face the great waves would be bragging; the finger pointed at the sky-reaching surf is the gesture.
相信不屈不挠的努力，
Believe in the effort that never bends,
相信不屈不挠的努力，
believing in untiring effort,
此句写相信不屈不挠的努力，是全诗写努力之态的关键。「相信不屈不挠的」写相信不屈不挠的，「相信」写相信、「不屈不挠的」写不屈不挠的；「努力」写努力，「努力」写努力。一句写相信不屈不挠的努力，以相信不屈不挠的写不屈不挠的、以努力写努力，写尽相信不屈不挠的努力之情。以努写情，坚定而咏志，是「以努写情」的点睛之笔。
The creed enumerates its objects. Believing in untiring effort. The line is a bare noun phrase, part of the litany of belief, and untiring is the virtue: effort that does not stop, matching the stubbornness of the earlier line. To have said I believed in hard work would be a moral; the untiring effort is the litany.
相信未来，热爱生命。
Believe in the future, love life.
相信未来，热爱生命。
believing in the future, and loving life.
结句写相信未来，热爱生命，是全诗立意的落点。「相信未来」写相信未来，「相信」写相信、「未来」写未来；「热爱生命」写热爱生命，「热爱」写热爱、「生命」写生命。一句写相信未来热爱生命，以相信未来写相信未来、以热爱生命写热爱生命，写尽相信未来、热爱生命之情。以生写情，坚定而咏志，是全诗最动人处，也是「以生写情」的点睛之笔。
The closing is the vow itself. Believing in the future, and loving life. The two verbs—believe and love—are the poem's whole faith, and the line has become the signature slogan of an entire generation that held on in dark times. The plainness is the point. To have said I hoped for better days would be weaker; believing in the future and loving life is the hope.
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Su Shi's 'Tune: Prelude to the Water Melody', "Men have joys and sorrows, the moon waxes and wanes, and this has been true since ancient times", accepts the mixture of joys and sorrows with a philosophical calm; Shi Zhi's 'Believe in the Future' meets a similar situation with a stubborn vow instead of a philosophy. Both poems treat suffering as the condition to be answered rather than solved: the one answers with acceptance, the other with an act of will. Read together they show two modes of endurance, the transcendent and the defiant.
苏轼《水调歌头·明月几时有》「人有悲欢离合，月有阴晴圆缺，此事古难全」，写咏志感怀、坚定旷达，是宋词长调的名篇；食指《相信未来》则以「当蜘蛛网无情地查封了我的炉台，我依然固执地铺平失望的灰烬」「相信未来，热爱生命」写铺平失望的灰烬、热爱生命。两诗同写咏志感怀、坚定旷达：一写人有悲欢离合、以悲欢写离合，一写当蜘蛛网无情地查封了我的炉台我依然固执地铺平失望的灰烬、以灰烬写咏志；一为苏轼之旷达、一为食指之坚定，并读正可见诗写「咏志感怀」的两种笔法，皆于咏志之中见坚定。
八声甘州·对潇潇暮雨洒江天 Eight Beats of a Gaodie - Over the Silent Pool the Rain Descends on a Sky-wide Scene 柳永 · 同写天边凝望、坚定清丽，一写对潇潇暮雨洒江天、一写我要用手指那涌向天边的排浪，皆于天边之中见凝望 Both write of a gaze stretched toward the edge of the world - Liu Yong toward boats coming home that never arrive, Shi Zhi toward breakers running to the sky and a sea that holds the sun - and both let that gaze carry the feeling.Liu Yong's 'Eight Beats of a Gaodie' is famous for its closing figure watching for a returning boat till the road of clouds is lost; Shi Zhi's middle stanza offers the line about fingertips like breakers running to the edge of the sky and palms like the sea that holds up the sun, a gaze that reaches even further. One looks back for someone who will not come, the other forward to a judgment still owed. The imagery of water binds them: clear autumn sky in Liu Yong, fierce sea and cold moonlight in Shi Zhi.
柳永《八声甘州·对潇潇暮雨洒江天》「对潇潇暮雨洒江天，一番洗清秋」，写天边凝望、坚定清丽，是宋词写羁旅的名篇；食指《相信未来》则以「我要用手指那涌向天边的排浪，我要用手掌那托住太阳的大海」「用美丽的雪花写下」写涌向天边的排浪、美丽的雪花。两诗同写天边凝望、坚定清丽：一写对潇潇暮雨洒江天、以暮雨写清秋，一写我要用手指那涌向天边的排浪、以排浪写咏志；一为柳永之清丽、一为食指之坚定，并读正可见诗写「天边凝望」的两种笔法，皆于天边之中见凝望。