清 Qing · 诗 Poem
客心
A Traveler's Heart
客心如水水如愁，容易归帆趁疾流。
忽讶船窗送吴语，故山月已挂船头。
Suddenly startled—through the cabin window comes the Wu dialect;
the moon over my old hills already hangs at the bow.
Meaning
On the way home, the traveler's heart is water-like sorrow, yet the sail speeds home. A sudden snatch of native Wu speech and the moon above his old hills fill him with startled joy at nearing home—blending the ache of exile with the delight of return.
客心如水水如愁，容易归帆趁疾流。忽讶船窗送吴语，故山月已挂船头。
Appreciation
[Plain Paraphrase] The poet says a traveler's heart is like water, and water like sorrow; the homeward sail easily rides the swift stream. Suddenly he is startled as the cabin window carries in the Wu dialect; the moon over his old hills already hangs at the bow. [Structure] Two opening lines set the water-and-sorrow figure and the swift homeward motion; the last two snap to a sudden moment of recognition. [Imagery] Water figures the traveler's feeling; 'suddenly startled' marks the joy of nearing home; the Wu dialect and the old-hill moon pinpoint arrival. Ingenious simile and scene-borne feeling mark this light, vivid homecoming poem.
【白话串讲】 龚自珍写《客心》：“客心如水水如愁，容易归帆趁疾流”——“忽讶船窗送吴语，故山月已挂船头”——他写归乡——客心如水水如愁。 【意象与手法】 “客心如水水如愁，容易归帆趁疾流”以水喻愁、水心相连；“忽讶船窗送吴语，故山月已挂船头”以“忽讶”写归乡之喜、“吴语”点明近乡。比喻巧妙、以景写情。 【情感与主旨】 写归乡途中客心如水、忽闻吴语而惊喜的心情，将羁旅之愁与归乡之喜融于一时，是龚自珍思乡诗中轻快灵动的一首。 【名句点睛】 常考“客心如水水如愁，容易归帆趁疾流”以水喻愁写客心；“忽讶船窗送吴语，故山月已挂船头”以吴语明月写近乡之喜。
Background
Gong Zizhen (1792–1841), courtesy name Selren, was a Qing thinker, poet, and prose master of Hangzhou. A bold critic of his age, he is famed for both reformist essays and lyrical poems. Ke Xin (A Traveler's Heart) is a short heptasyllabic quatrain written aboard a homeward boat, capturing the mix of exile's sorrow and return's joy. Light and nimble among his often passionate verse, it remains a favorite in anthologies of homecoming poetry.
《客心》为清代诗人龚自珍所作诗。龚自珍（1792—1841），字璱人，号定盦，浙江仁和人，清代思想家、诗人、文学家。此诗写羁旅思乡，为舟中思乡之作。诗中「客心如水水如愁，容易归帆趁疾流」写客心如水水如愁，容易归帆趁疾流；「忽讶船窗送吴语，故山月已挂船头」写忽讶船窗送吴语，故山月已挂船头。龚自珍此诗以羁旅思乡、故山月已挂船头写其思乡之情，清婉思乡，是龚自珍诗中的名篇。此篇《客心》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。此篇《客心》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。此篇《客心》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 art is 'clear, tender homesickness, feeling carried by water.' Four lines in two couplets move from the heart like water to the startled Wu dialect. The opening couples the traveler's heart with water and sorrow; the close startles with the Wu speech and the old-hill moon. The whole is economical yet dense, its structure strict and its intent oblique, images compressed and resonant. The more one reads, the more one admires its conception—a rare fine piece, showing the poet's perfected craft in few words.
此诗艺术上以「清婉思乡、以水写情」见长。全诗共四句两联，由客心如水水如愁而忽讶船窗送吴语。起「客心如水水如愁，容易归帆趁疾流」写客心如水水如愁：客心如水水如愁，容易归帆趁疾流；结「忽讶船窗送吴语，故山月已挂船头」写忽讶船窗送吴语：忽讶船窗送吴语，故山月已挂船头。全诗以水写情，由客心如水水如愁而故山月已挂船头，清婉思乡，是龚自珍诗中的名篇。通篇以少总多之法出之，章法严谨而用意深曲，意象凝练而情韵悠长，读之愈久，愈觉其构思之精与笔力之健，堪称同类诗作中不可多得之佳篇，足见诗人炉火纯青的艺术功力。通篇以少总多之法出之，章法严谨而用意深曲，意象凝练而情韵悠长，读之愈久，愈觉其构思之精与笔力之健，堪称同类诗作中不可多得之佳篇，足见诗人炉火纯青的艺术功力。通篇以少总多之法出之，章法严谨而用意深曲，意象凝练而情韵悠长，读之愈久，愈觉其构思之精与笔力之健，堪称同类诗作中不可多得之佳篇，足见诗人炉火纯青的艺术功力。
Allusions
The lines carry reference. 'The heart like water, water like sorrow' figures feeling through water. 'Through the cabin window comes the Wu dialect' uses the Wu-dialect trope—the native speech of the old home region—to signal near arrival. The poet folds the Wu-dialect allusion into the verse without trace, making the homesick joy palpable—a model of assimilating allusion without pedantry, ancient and personal in one breath.
诗中「客心如水水如愁容易归帆趁疾流」「忽讶船窗送吴语故山月已挂船头」等语，皆含典故故实。「客心如水水如愁容易归帆趁疾流」写客心如水水如愁容易归帆趁疾流；「忽讶船窗送吴语故山月已挂船头」用吴语之典（吴语写故乡吴地方言），写忽讶船窗送吴语故山月已挂船头。诗人用吴语之典入诗，不着痕迹，而把羁旅思乡之情写得真切可感，是善于熔铸典故的体现。此等用典之法，熔铸古今而不着痕迹，既不炫博以示学，亦不拘泥于旧解，正见诗人学养之深与运思之巧。读者于此等处尤当细心玩味，方能领会其言外之旨与味外之味。此等用典之法，熔铸古今而不着痕迹，既不炫博以示学，亦不拘泥于旧解，正见诗人学养之深与运思之巧。读者于此等处尤当细心玩味，方能领会其言外之旨与味外之味。此等用典之法，熔铸古今而不着痕迹，既不炫博以示学，亦不拘泥于旧解，正见诗人学养之深与运思之巧。读者于此等处尤当细心玩味，方能领会其言外之旨与味外之味。
Commentary
Ke Xin is Gong Zizhen's poem of traveler's homesickness, voicing the heart like water and sorrow, the startled Wu dialect, the old-hill moon at the bow. It opens with the heart like water, easily the sail rides home; closes with the startled Wu speech and the old-hill moon. 'Through the window comes the Wu dialect, the old-hill moon already hangs at the bow' is the poem's resting point, figuring the homesick joy. Clear and tender, carried by water, it is a celebrated piece in his verse.
这首《客心》，是龚自珍写羁旅思乡之作，写客心如水水如愁、忽讶船窗送吴语、故山月已挂船头之情，清婉思乡。起「客心如水水如愁，容易归帆趁疾流」——客心如水水如愁，容易归帆趁疾流。写客心如水水如愁：客心如水水如愁、容易归帆趁疾流——水如愁、趁疾流；结「忽讶船窗送吴语，故山月已挂船头」——忽讶船窗送吴语，故山月已挂船头。写忽讶船窗送吴语：忽讶船窗送吴语、故山月已挂船头——送吴语、挂船头。这「忽讶船窗送吴语，故山月已挂船头」，是全诗之结：以故山月已挂船头写其思乡。全诗清婉思乡，以水写情，正是龚自珍诗中的名篇。综观全诗，情真、景切、理深，三者浑融无迹，故能于短短数语之中寄无限深意，令人百读不厌。其含蓄蕴藉之处，正是中国古典诗歌以少总多、言有尽而意无穷的美学精神的生动体现。综观全诗，情真、景切、理深，三者浑融无迹，故能于短短数语之中寄无限深意，令人百读不厌。其含蓄蕴藉之处，正是中国古典诗歌以少总多、言有尽而意无穷的美学精神的生动体现。
Prosody
Line by line
客心如水水如愁，容易归帆趁疾流。
A traveler's heart is like water, and water like sorrow; easily the homeward sail catches the swift current.
客心如水水如愁，容易归帆趁疾流。
A traveler's heart is like water, and the water is like grief; homeward sails ride easily on the swift current.
起句写客心如水水如愁，起笔即见其客心。「客心如水水如愁」写客心如水水如愁，「客心如水」写客心如水、「水如愁」写水如愁；「容易归帆趁疾流」写容易归帆趁疾流，「容易归帆」写容易归帆、「趁疾流」写趁疾流。一句写客心如水水如愁容易归帆趁疾流，以客心如水水如愁写水如愁、以容易归帆趁疾流写趁疾流，写尽客心如水水如愁、容易归帆趁疾流之情。以水起兴，清婉而思乡，是「以水起兴」的妙笔。
The opening writes a traveler's heart is like water, and the water is like grief, the traveler's heart visible from the first stroke. A traveler's heart is like water, and the water is like grief: the traveler's heart like water the double simile, water like grief the grief within. Homeward sails ride easily on the swift current: homeward sails the returning boat, the swift current the rushing stream. One line: the traveler's heart like water, the homeward sail on the fast flood. Writing the water-like heart, and the sail on the swift current, exhausts the feeling: the guest-heart as water, the homecoming borne on the stream. Rising on the water, clear and delicate in its longing for home, the finest stroke of rising on the river.
忽讶船窗送吴语，
Suddenly startled—through the cabin window comes the Wu dialect;
忽讶船窗送吴语，
Suddenly, startled, I hear the Wu dialect come through the cabin window,
此句写忽讶船窗送吴语，是全诗写吴语之态的关键。「忽讶船窗」写忽讶船窗，「忽讶」写忽讶、「船窗」写船窗；「送吴语」用吴语之典写送吴语，「送」写送、「吴语」写吴语。一句写忽讶船窗送吴语，以忽讶船窗写船窗、以送吴语写吴语，写尽忽讶船窗送吴语之情。以语写情，清婉而思乡，是「以语写情」的点睛之笔。此句以寥寥数语写尽深意，情韵兼胜，正是全诗点睛之笔。其于字句之间暗藏波澜，于平易之中寄寓曲折，尤当反复涵泳，方能得其三昧。
The line writes suddenly, startled, I hear the Wu dialect come through the cabin window, the key to the poem's writing of the Wu speech. Suddenly, startled writes the surprise, the cabin window the boat's side. The Wu dialect comes through writes the southern speech borne on the air. One line: startled at the cabin window, the Wu dialect arriving. Writing the sudden surprise at the window, and the southern speech, exhausts the feeling. Writing feeling through the words spoken, clear and delicate in its home-longing, the crowning stroke of writing emotion through the dialect. The line writes deep meaning in few words, feeling and harmony together, the very eye of the poem; with undercurrents hidden between the characters, and turns lodged within the plain, it must be pondered again and again before its secret is found.
故山月已挂船头。
the moon over my old hills already hangs at the bow.
故山月已挂船头。
and the moon over my old hills is already hanging at the bow.
结句写故山月已挂船头，是全诗立意的落点。「故山月」写故山月，「故山」写故山、「月」写月；「已挂船头」写已挂船头，「已挂」写已挂、「船头」写船头。一句写故山月已挂船头，以故山月写月、以已挂船头写船头，写尽故山月已挂船头之情。以月写情，清婉而思乡，是全诗最动人处，也是「以月写情」的点睛之笔。此句以寥寥数语写尽深意，情韵兼胜，正是全诗点睛之笔。其于字句之间暗藏波澜，于平易之中寄寓曲折，尤当反复涵泳，方能得其三昧。
The close writes the moon over my old hills is already hanging at the bow, where the poem's meaning comes to rest. The moon over my old hills writes the homeward moon, old hills the remembered mountains. Is already hanging at the bow: already hanging the position, the bow the boat's front. One line: the old hills' moon already at the prow. Writing the homeward moon, and the moon at the bow, exhausts the feeling. Writing feeling through the moon, clear and delicate in its home-longing, the most moving passage of the poem, the crowning stroke of writing emotion through the moon. The line writes deep meaning in few words, feeling and harmony together, the very eye of the poem; with undercurrents hidden between the characters, and turns lodged within the plain, it must be pondered again and again before its secret is found.
Study
Word focus
Related Reading
Su Shi's Shui Diao Ge Tou, 'may men live long; a thousand li share the same fair moon,' is a famous long Song lyric of homesick expansiveness. Gong's Ke Xin answers with 'the heart like water, the sail rides home' and 'the old-hill moon at the bow.' Both turn on homesick feeling—Su capacious, Gong clear and tender—revealing two manners of writing 'homesick reflection.'
苏轼《水调歌头·明月几时有》「但愿人长久，千里共婵娟」，写思乡感怀、清婉旷达，是宋词长调的名篇；龚自珍《客心》则以「客心如水水如愁，容易归帆趁疾流」「故山月已挂船头」写水如愁、挂船头。两诗同写思乡感怀、清婉旷达：一写但愿人长久、以千里共婵娟写思亲，一写客心如水水如愁容易归帆趁疾流、以客心写思乡；一为苏轼之旷达、一为龚自珍之清婉，并读正可见诗写「思乡感怀」的两种笔法，皆于思乡之中见清婉。
八声甘州·对潇潇暮雨洒江天 Ba Sheng Gan Zhou · On the Misty Rain Falling at Dusk over River and Sky 柳永 · 同写船头凝望、清婉清丽，一写对潇潇暮雨洒江天、一写忽讶船窗送吴语故山月已挂船头，皆于船头之中见凝望 Both write gazing at the bow—one with 'misty rain at dusk over river and sky,' the other with 'suddenly the Wu dialect, the old-hill moon at the bow'—gazing within the bow-scene.Liu Yong's Ba Sheng Gan Zhou, 'on the misty rain falling at dusk over river and sky, washing clear the autumn,' is a famous Song lyric of travel-lament. Gong's Ke Xin answers with 'the Wu dialect at the window' and 'the sail rides the swift current.' Both gaze at the bow—Liu clear and lovely, Gong clear and tender—showing two ways of writing 'gazing at the bow.'
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」，写船头凝望、清婉清丽，是宋词写羁旅的名篇；龚自珍《客心》则以「忽讶船窗送吴语，故山月已挂船头」「容易归帆趁疾流」写挂船头、趁疾流。两诗同写船头凝望、清婉清丽：一写对潇潇暮雨洒江天、以暮雨写清秋，一写忽讶船窗送吴语故山月已挂船头、以吴语写思乡；一为柳永之清丽、一为龚自珍之清婉，并读正可见诗写「船头凝望」的两种笔法，皆于船头之中见凝望。