唐 Tang · 诗 Poem
淮上与友人别
Parting with a Friend at Huai River
扬子江头杨柳春，杨花愁杀渡江人。
数声风笛离亭晚，君向潇湘我向秦。
A few notes of a wind-blown flute, the parting pavilion late; you go toward Xiaoxiang, I toward Qin.
Meaning
The poem writes a parting with a friend at a ford on the Huai River, where willows and catkins stir sorrow and a flute sounds at dusk. The closing line, you go toward Xiaoxiang, I toward Qin, seals the parting into two diverging roads with a vast, quiet melancholy.
扬子江畔杨柳依依、春色正浓，漫天杨花却愁杀了即将渡江的离人。几声风里传来的笛曲，送别的长亭已近黄昏；你向那潇湘而去，我则朝着秦地启程。
Appreciation
The poem writes the parting with a friend at the Huai River (by the Yangzi). The first two lines use willows in spring and willow catkins to write the season of parting and the stirred, tangled sorrow. The last two point to the late scene of wind-blown flute, parting pavilion, and close with you toward Xiaoxiang, I toward Qin, turning the lingering closeness into each going their own way. Willow and willow catkin pun on stay and scatter, a double meaning for parting; wind-blown flute, parting pavilion writes the leave-taking through sound; the last line uses a symmetric phrasing for the parting of ways, weighty yet light. It writes the ordinary parting of drifting Late-Tang scholars, with no ornate show yet deep parting sorrow, revealing the rootless wandering of the era's men of letters in plain narration.
【白话串讲】 “扬子江头杨柳春，杨花愁杀渡江人”——郑谷在扬州与友人分别：杨花飘飞。“数声风笛离亭晚，君向潇湘我向秦”——风笛声中，你往潇湘，我往长安。从此天各一方。 【意象与手法】 “杨柳”“杨花”谐音“留”“散”，双关离情；“风笛离亭”以声写别；末句以对称句式写分道扬镳，举重若轻。 【情感与主旨】 写晚唐士人漂泊中的寻常送别，不事渲染而离愁自深，于淡淡叙述中见时代文人的流转无定。 【名句点睛】 “君向潇湘我向秦”——以七字写尽背道而驰的别路，平实中藏无尽苍茫，遂成送别名句。
Background
Zheng Gu was a Late-Tang poet; this poem was likely written at a ford where he parted from a friend in the Jianghuai region. The Yangzi is the lower Yangtze; Xiaoxiang stands for Hunan and Qin for Chang'an, hinting the two go their separate ways.
《淮上与友人别》为唐代郑谷所作，是写淮上送别、杨花愁人之情的诗。郑谷（约851—约910），字守愚，袁州宜春人，唐代诗人。此诗：扬子江头杨柳春，杨花愁杀渡江人。数声风笛离亭晚，君向潇湘我向秦。全诗写淮上送别、杨花愁人之情，是郑谷诗的名篇。
Art
A seven-character quatrain, first real then unreal; the first two lines set the scene and raise sorrow, the last two write the leave-taking through sound (wind flute) and close through antithesis (you toward — I toward), shallow in language yet distant in feeling.
《淮上与友人别》艺术上以扬子江头送别的描摹与杨花愁人的深婉见长。全诗四句：首写扬子江头——“扬子江头杨柳春，杨花愁杀渡江人”写扬子江头杨柳春、杨花愁杀渡江人；末写离亭风笛——“数声风笛离亭晚，君向潇湘我向秦”写数声风笛离亭晚、君向潇湘我向秦。全诗以扬子江头送别写杨花愁人，正是郑谷诗深婉的笔法。
Allusions
Willows have long been broken and given at parting, punning on stay; willow catkins, that is, willow seeds, drifting stands for separation. Xiaoxiang refers to today's Hunan; Qin refers to Guanzhong and Chang'an; the parting pavilion is the pavilion of farewell.
《淮上与友人别》用典在“扬子江”“杨柳”“潇湘秦”。“扬子江”写扬子江（长江）；“杨柳”写杨柳（送别之树，古人有折柳赠别）；“潇湘秦”写潇湘与秦（两地相隔）。全诗以这些意象写淮上送别、杨花愁人，用典自然而深婉自见，正是郑谷诗的笔法。
Commentary
The Tang Poetry Selection says wind flute, parting pavilion — only twenty-eight characters yet the parting mood is long. The Shi Jing Qian Shuo calls it you toward — I toward, antithesis showing distance, a graceful Late-Tang little quatrain.
《淮上与友人别》是郑谷诗的名篇，也是晚唐送别诗中写离情别绪的代表作。此诗写淮上送别、杨花愁人之情，向为论者称道。论者多赏其扬子江头送别的描摹与杨花愁人的深婉——“扬子江头杨柳春，杨花愁杀渡江人”写扬子江头杨柳春、杨花愁杀渡江人，深婉之极；“数声风笛离亭晚，君向潇湘我向秦”写数声风笛离亭晚、君向潇湘我向秦，更见其怅。郑谷为晚唐诗人，其七绝以深婉著称，此诗正是其代表——以扬子江头送别写杨花愁人，正是其诗风。
Prosody
Line by line
扬子江头杨柳春，杨花愁杀渡江人。
At the head of the Yangzi, willows are spring; willow catkins grieve the river-crossing man to death.
扬子江头杨柳春，杨花愁杀渡江人。
By the Yangzi ferry willows in spring; willow-duff grieves the man crossing the river.
首写扬子江头杨柳春、杨花愁杀渡江人，是全诗写送别之景的起点。“扬子江头杨柳春”用扬子江之典写扬子江头杨柳春——“扬子江头杨柳春”用扬子江之地写扬子江头杨柳青青——扬子江头杨柳春；“杨花愁杀渡江人”写杨花愁杀渡江人——“杨花愁杀渡江人”写杨花飘飞愁杀渡江之人——杨花愁杀渡江人。二句写扬子江头杨柳春、杨花愁杀渡江人：扬子江头杨柳春，杨花愁杀渡江人。以“扬子江头杨柳春”写扬子江头、杨柳如烟之春，以“杨花愁杀渡江人”写杨花飘飞、愁杀将渡之人，正是郑谷诗写送别之景的起点——江头杨柳，杨花愁人。
The first two lines write the farewell scene, the start. 'By the Yangzi ferry willows in spring' — the ferry where willows are green in spring; 'willow-duff grieves the man crossing the river' — the drifting willow down grieves the traveler about to cross. It is the start of Zheng Gu's farewell scene: riverside willows, willow down that grieves the departing man.
数声风笛离亭晚，君向潇湘我向秦。
A few notes of a wind-blown flute, the parting pavilion late; you go toward Xiaoxiang, I toward Qin.
数声风笛离亭晚，君向潇湘我向秦。
A few notes of the wind pipe, the parting pavilion at dusk; you toward Xiaoxiang, I toward Qin.
末写数声风笛离亭晚、君向潇湘我向秦，是全诗写别后殊途的归结。“数声风笛离亭晚”写数声风笛离亭晚——“数声风笛离亭晚”写几声风笛在离亭晚风中——数声风笛离亭晚；“君向潇湘我向秦”用潇湘秦之典写君向潇湘我向秦——“君向潇湘我向秦”用潇湘与秦之地写君往潇湘、我往秦地——君向潇湘我向秦。二句写数声风笛离亭晚、君向潇湘我向秦：数声风笛离亭晚，君向潇湘我向秦。以“数声风笛离亭晚”写风笛数声、离亭日晚，以“君向潇湘我向秦”用潇湘秦之地写一南一北、各奔前程，正是郑谷诗写别后殊途的归结——风笛离亭，潇湘与秦。
The last two lines write the parting into separate roads, the close. 'A few notes of the wind pipe, the parting pavilion at dusk' — the wind pipe's few notes in the evening at the parting pavilion; 'you toward Xiaoxiang, I toward Qin' — one south, one north, each taking his road. It is the close: wind pipe and evening pavilion, Xiaoxiang and Qin.
Study
Word focus
Related Reading
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