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唐 Tang · 诗 Poem

没蕃故人

For an Old Friend Lost to the Tibetans

张籍

Zhang Ji

前年伐月支，城上没全师。
蕃汉断消息，死生长别离。
无人收废帐，归马识残旗。
欲祭疑君在，天涯哭此时。

Two years ago we campaigned against the Yuezhi,
and beneath the city walls the whole army was swallowed.
Between the Tibetan and the Han realms all word is cut off,
in death or life we are parted for a long parting.
No one gathers the abandoned tents,
only the returning horses still recognize the tattered banners.
I long to offer you sacrifice, yet suspect you are still alive,
and at the far end of the earth I weep for this hour.

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Meaning

The poem mourns an old friend who was killed when the Tang army was annihilated in a campaign on the western frontier against Tibet. Since the defeat, all communication between the Tibetan and Han territories has ceased, leaving the poet unsure whether his friend lives or is dead. The poem moves from a recollection of the disaster, through the desolation of the battlefield, to the poet's own agonized wish to hold a memorial service that he dare not perform. It is a lament for a life lost in war and for a grief that can never find closure.

前年征伐月支，城下全军覆没。蕃汉之间断绝了消息，生死之间从此长别。无人收拾废弃的帐幕，只有归来的战马还认得残破的军旗。我想设祭吊念，却又怀疑你尚在人世，只能在天涯海角痛哭此时。

Appreciation

[Plain Paraphrase] The poem opens by recalling the catastrophe: two years ago the army campaigned against the Yuezhi and the entire force perished beneath the city walls. Since then, with the Tibetan and Han lands cut off from one another, the poet has had no word of his friend, and death and life are separated by an endless parting. He pictures the abandoned battlefield tents that no one has cleared, and the returning war horses that still seem to know the ragged banners. In the end he wants to hold a sacrifice for the dead, yet the lack of certain news makes him hesitate, and he can only weep bitterly from far away. [Structure] The eight lines divide cleanly into two movements: the first four recount the defeat and the silence that followed it; the last four shift to the poet's own mourning. This progression from outward event to inward grief gives the short poem remarkable depth. [Imagery] The famous third couplet works entirely through detail: no one collects the discarded tents, and a homecoming horse still recognizes its broken standard. The horse's seeming attachment sets off the absence of its master with quiet, devastating force. The closing couplet then exposes the poet's heart directly: wanting to sacrifice yet fearing the friend may live, he weeps without resolution.

【白话串讲】张籍写《没蕃故人》：“前年伐月支，城上没全师”——“蕃汉断消息，死生长别离”——“无人收废帐，归马识残旗”——“欲祭疑君在，天涯哭此时”——他写没蕃故人——欲祭疑君在。【意象与手法】 “前年伐月支，城上没全师”写故人战没之背景；“无人收废帐，归马识残旗”写战场之惨烈，归马识旗尤见凄怆；“欲祭疑君在”写想祭而疑其尚在；结以“天涯哭此时”写天涯之哭。曲折深婉。【情感与主旨】张籍悼念没于吐蕃的故人之作，写战场惨烈与“欲祭疑君在”的不尽哀思，是唐人悼亡诗中的名篇。【名句点睛】常考“无人收废帐，归马识残旗”写战场惨烈；“欲祭疑君在，天涯哭此时”写不尽哀思。

Background

Zhang Ji (c. 767–c. 830), courtesy name Wenchang, was a Mid-Tang poet from Wujiang in Hezhou (present-day He County, Anhui). Together with Wang Jian he was famed for the 'Zhang–Wang yuefu,' a body of poems on the hardships of common people and social realities. This poem was written when Tibet, the powerful kingdom to China's west, was repeatedly invading Tang territory and Tang armies were suffering heavy defeats. 'Mofan' means to perish in Tibetan-held lands. The poem thus channels a private grief into the broader tragedy of endless Tang–Tibetan warfare, in which many families lost sons without ever learning their fate. It is regarded as one of the finest Mid-Tang elegies.

《没蕃故人》为中唐诗人张籍所作五言律诗。张籍（约767—约830），字文昌，和州乌江（今安徽和县）人，中唐著名诗人，与王建并称「张王乐府」，其乐府诗多写民生疾苦与社会现实。此诗悼念没于吐蕃的故人。「没蕃」即没于蕃地，指战死于吐蕃（唐代西方强族）。诗中「前年伐月支，城上没全师」写故人随军征伐、全军覆没；「蕃汉断消息，死生长别离」写战没之后音信断绝、生死永别；「无人收废帐，归马识残旗」写战场之惨烈；「欲祭疑君在，天涯哭此时」写想设祭吊念而疑其尚在的哀痛。中唐时期，吐蕃屡犯唐境，唐蕃战争频繁，唐军多有覆没。张籍此诗正是以故人没于蕃地为背景，写出了战争对个人命运的残酷摧残与生者对死者无尽的哀思，情真意挚，哀恸深沉，是中唐悼亡诗中的名篇。此篇《没蕃故人》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's craft lies in its layered progression and its use of small details to convey sorrow. The opening couplet narrates the defeat with stark economy: 'two years ago' marks how long the grief has festered, while 'the whole army swallowed' states the scale of loss in four syllables. The second couplet sharpens the agony of uncertainty: 'cut off' marks the silence of news, 'long parting' the finality of separation. The third couplet is the poem's emotional core: the unclaimed tents evoke desolation, and the returning horse that 'still recognizes' the torn banner writes, through an animal's attachment, the horror of a field where masters lie dead but their beasts remain. The closing couplet reveals a psychology of hesitation: to sacrifice is to admit death, yet no news has confirmed it, so the poet weeps suspended between hope and despair. Each couplet pushes the grief one layer deeper.

此诗艺术上以「层层递进、以细节写哀」见长。全诗八句，前四句写战没之况，后四句写哀思之情。首联「前年伐月支，城上没全师」追叙战没：前年征伐月支，城下全军覆没，「前年」点出时间之久，「没全师」写全军覆没之惨。颔联「蕃汉断消息，死生长别离」写消息断绝、生死永别：蕃汉之间断了消息，生死之间从此长别，「断消息」写音信之绝，「长别离」写生死之隔。颈联「无人收废帐，归马识残旗」以细节写战场之惨烈：无人收拾废弃的帐幕，只有归来的战马还认得残破的军旗，「无人收」写战后之荒凉，「归马识残旗」以归马识旗的细节，写尽战场的惨烈与悲怆。尾联「欲祭疑君在，天涯哭此时」写哀思之情：想设祭吊念，却又怀疑你尚在人世，只能在天涯痛哭此时。「欲祭疑君在」写生死不明、哀思难断的复杂心理，曲折深婉。全诗由追叙而感慨、由细节而哀恸，层层递进，情真意挚，是中唐悼亡诗中的名篇。

Allusions

The Yuezhi were an ancient people living around present-day Gansu and Xinjiang who migrated westward into Central Asia and were campaigned against under Emperor Wu of Han. By Tang times poets used 'Yuezhi' loosely for the western enemies on the frontier, here standing for the Tibetans. The returning horse that recognizes a broken banner belongs to a long tradition of writing horses in battle scenes, going back to the Shijing poem 'Xiao Ya': 'The horses neigh, the banners stream.' Zhang Ji borrows that martial imagery but drains it of glory, leaving only loss. By fusing these older materials into a personal elegy, he makes learned reference serve raw grief without showing off.

诗中「月支」为古族名，即月氏，汉代居于今甘肃、新疆一带，后西迁中亚，汉武帝时曾派兵征讨。唐人诗中常以「月支」泛指西方边地敌族，如李白「天兵下北荒，胡马欲南饮。横戈从百战，直为衔恩甚」之写征讨。张籍「前年伐月支」，即以月支代指吐蕃等西方敌族，写故人随军征伐。「没全师」写全军覆没，「全师」指全军。此外，「归马识残旗」以战马归来尚识残旗之细节，暗含《诗经》以来以马写战场的传统，如《小雅》「萧萧马鸣，悠悠旆旌」之写军旅。诗人以月支等地名故实与归马残旗之细节入诗，不着痕迹，而把故人战没之惨与哀思之深写得真切可感，是善于熔铸故实以写哀情的体现。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。

Commentary

This is Zhang Ji's elegy for a friend who died in Tibetan-held territory, celebrated for its sincerity and restrained sorrow. The opening couplet recalls the annihilation of an entire army, with 'two years ago' showing how long the poet's grief has endured. The second couplet's 'cut off' and 'long' compress the finality of silence and separation into plain words. The third couplet is universally admired: the abandoned tents and the returning horse that knows the old standard write the tragedy through objects and a beast rather than through the poet's outcry. The ending, wanting to sacrifice yet fearing the friend lives, exposes the unbearable limbo of families of the missing. Read together, the couplets move from recollection to reflection to lament, making this a model of how Mid-Tang poets gave voice to private grief amid public catastrophe.

这首《没蕃故人》，是张籍悼念没于吐蕃的故人之作，写得情真意挚、哀恸深沉。首联「前年伐月支，城上没全师」，追叙故人战没之事：前年征伐月支，城下全军覆没。「前年」二字，点出这已是两年前的事，而哀思至今未已；「没全师」三字，写全军覆没之惨，故人便在这惨烈的战事中没了消息。颔联「蕃汉断消息，死生长别离」，写战没之后的状况：蕃汉之间断了消息，生死之间从此长别。这两句以「断」「长」二字，写尽音信之绝与生死之隔，平实的语言中，藏着沉痛的哀伤。颈联「无人收废帐，归马识残旗」，是全文最动人处：无人收拾废弃的帐幕，只有归来的战马还认得残破的军旗。战后荒凉，唯余废帐残旗，而那一匹归来的战马，竟还认得旧时的军旗——战马犹存，而主人已没，这「归马识残旗」五字，以物写人，把战场的惨烈与悲怆写得触目惊心。尾联「欲祭疑君在，天涯哭此时」，写哀思之情：想设祭吊念，却又怀疑你尚在人世，只能在天涯痛哭此时。「欲祭疑君在」，写尽生死不明、存亡难卜的复杂心理——本欲设祭，又怕误信其死；不信其死，又终究没有音信，只能抱此难断的哀思，哭于天涯。全诗由追叙而感慨、由细节而哀恸，层层递进，情真意挚，正是中唐诗人于战乱中写尽生离死别之悲的典范，读之令人动容。

Prosody

Form Five-character regulated verse (wulü), a 'near-form' (jinti) poem with a level-tone opening line五言律诗（近体，平起式）

Rhyme The poem rhymes on the level-tone words shi (master), li (parting), qi (banner), and shi (hour), all belonging to the zhi-qi rhyme group. A single rhyme runs throughout, broad and sonorous, its heavy timbre matching the elegiac tone; the closing rhyme on 'this hour' echoes the line 'I weep at the far end of the earth for this hour,' letting the sound itself carry unending sorrow.全诗押平声韵「师」「离」「旗」「时」，韵脚同属支齐类（师、离、旗、时），一韵到底，韵部宽舒而音调沉挚。五律以平韵谐畅为常，此诗「师」「离」「旗」「时」四韵音色浑厚，正与悼亡哀恸的情调相称；「时」字收束全篇，与「天涯哭此时」之句相映，韵脚亦含哀思无尽之意，声情与辞情相凑。

Tone pattern The opening couplet begins in a level tone, using 'Yuezhi' and 'whole army' to close the lines and set a somber note of annihilation. The second couplet contrasts 'cut off' with 'long,' weighted and slow, marking the gulf between death and life. The third couplet is strictly parallel — 'no one' against 'returning horse,' 'abandoned tents' against 'tattered banners' — bleak and desolate in cadence. The closing couplet ends on the level tone of 'hour,' relaxing the rhythm as the mood passes from carnage into mourning. Level and oblique tones alternate, and the cadence rises and falls with the feeling, as if one heard the poet weeping at the edge of the world.句式上，首联「前年伐月支，城上没全师」平起，以「支」「师」收句，写战没之惨，音节沉郁；颔联「蕃汉断消息，死生长别离」以「断」「长」相对，写生死之隔，音节凝重；颈联「无人收废帐，归马识残旗」对仗工整，「无人」「归马」「废帐」「残旗」相映，写战场惨烈，音节苍凉；尾联「欲祭疑君在，天涯哭此时」以「时」字平收，音节转舒，情调由惨烈归于哀恸。全诗平仄相间、音节随情起伏，读来如诗人天涯遥哭之音，沉挚而哀恸。

Reading note This five-character regulated verse is a celebrated Mid-Tang elegy and one of Zhang Ji's finest poems on the realities of war. Its hallmark is 'layered progression and sorrow written through detail': the first couplet recalls the friend's death in a lost campaign; the second writes the silence and final parting; the third, with its abandoned tents and banner-recognizing horse, is the most moving passage; the fourth writes a mourner who cannot even sacrifice with certainty. The poem is a model of how a Tang poet gave voice to the pain of parting in life and death amid the chaos of war.此诗为五言律诗，是中唐悼亡诗中的名篇，也是张籍写战争现实的名作。全诗的艺术特色在于「层层递进、以细节写哀」：首联「前年伐月支，城上没全师」追叙故人战没，起笔即定哀恸之调；颔联「蕃汉断消息，死生长别离」写消息断绝、生死永别；颈联「无人收废帐，归马识残旗」以战后废帐残旗、归马识旗之细节写战场之惨烈，是全诗最动人处；尾联「欲祭疑君在，天涯哭此时」写欲祭而疑其尚在的哀思，曲折深婉。全诗由追叙而感慨、由细节而哀恸，层层递进，情真意挚。尤为动人者，是「无人收废帐，归马识残旗」一联，以物写人、以马写人，把战场的惨烈与物在人亡的悲怆写得触目惊心，而「欲祭疑君在，天涯哭此时」一结，写尽生死不明之下无尽的哀思，正是中唐诗人于战乱中写生离死别之悲的典范，为后世选本所常收。

Line by line

前年伐月支，城上没全师。

Two years ago we campaigned against the Yuezhi, and beneath the city walls the whole army was swallowed.

前年征伐月支，城下全军覆没。

The year before last, we campaigned against Yuezhi; beneath the walls, the whole army was lost.

首联追叙故人战没之事，起笔即定哀恸之调。「前年伐月支」写前年随军征伐月支，「前年」点出时间之久——这已是两年前的事，而诗人至今未能忘怀；「城上没全师」写城下全军覆没，「没全师」三字，写尽全军覆没之惨烈，故人便在这覆没之中没了消息。两句一写征伐、一写覆没，以「前年」之久与「全师」之没相对照，愈见其哀思之深长。诗人不写自己如何悲痛，而以此追叙写故人战没之背景，含蓄而沉重，为全诗奠定了哀恸的基调。

The opening couplet recounts the old friend's death in battle, the opening at once tuning the grieving tone. 'The year before last, we campaigned against Yuezhi' writes the year before last's campaigning with the army against Yuezhi, 'the year before last' naming the time's distance — this is already a thing of two years ago, and the poet has not forgotten to this day; 'beneath the walls, the whole army was lost' writes the whole army's annihilation below the walls, the words 'the whole army was lost' writing to the full the carnage of annihilation, and the old friend vanished within this annihilation. Two lines, one the campaign one the annihilation, through the contrast of 'the year before last's' distance and 'the whole army's' loss, the grief's depth the more. The poet writes not his own grief, but through this recounting writes the background of the friend's death, restrained and heavy, tuning the whole's grieving keynote.

蕃汉断消息，死生长别离。

Between the Tibetan and the Han realms all word is cut off; in death or life we are parted for a long parting.

蕃汉之间断绝了消息，生死之间从此长别。

Between the tribes and the Han, the messages are cut; in life and death, a long parting.

颔联写战没之后音信断绝、生死永别，是全诗情感的关键。「蕃汉断消息」写蕃汉之间断了消息，「断」字见音信之绝——战没于蕃地，两军对峙，消息不通，故人生死难知；「死生长别离」写生死之间从此长别，「长」字见其永别之无期，若生，则音信难通，若死，则阴阳永隔。两句以「断」写消息之绝、以「长」写别离之永，把故人战没后生死不明、存亡难卜的处境写得沉重而哀伤。诗人不写具体情节，而以此平实之语写尽生离死别之悲，含蓄蕴藉，正是「以淡语写深情」的妙笔。

The neck couplet writes the messages' cut and the life-death parting after the battle's loss, the key of the poem's feeling. 'Between the tribes and the Han, the messages are cut' writes the cut of messages between the tribes and the Han, the word 'cut' showing the messages' severance — lost in the tribal land, the two armies facing, messages not passing, the old friend's life and death unknown; 'in life and death, a long parting' writing the long parting henceforth between life and death, the word 'long' showing the farewell's no date: if living, messages hard to pass, if dead, yin and yang forever parted. Two lines, through 'cut' writing the messages' severance, through 'long' writing the parting's eternity, writing the old friend's lost-in-battle, life-death unclear, survival and ruin hard to foretell, heavy and grieving. The poet writes not the concrete plot, but through this plain word writing to the full the grief of life-parting and death-parting, restrained and meaningful, precisely the brush of 'writing deep feeling through the plain word'.

无人收废帐，归马识残旗。

No one gathers the abandoned tents; only the returning horses still recognize the tattered banners.

无人收拾废弃的帐幕，只有归来的战马还认得残破的军旗。

No one gathers the abandoned tents; the returned horses still know the tattered flags.

颈联以细节写战场之惨烈，是全诗最动人处。「无人收废帐」写战后废弃的帐幕无人收拾，「无人收」写战后之荒凉，人去营空、唯余废帐；「归马识残旗」写归来的战马还认得残破的军旗，「归马识旗」以归马之深情写战场之悲怆——战马归来，犹识旧时军旗，而主人已没于战阵。两句一写废帐之无人收拾、一写残旗之犹被马识，以物写人、以马写人，把战场的惨烈与物在人亡的悲怆写得触目惊心。诗人不直写故人之死，而以此战后细节写之，含蓄而深沉，是五律「以细节写哀」的典范之笔。

The following couplet writes the battlefield's carnage through detail, the poem's most moving part. 'No one gathers the abandoned tents' writes the post-battle abandoned tents' no one to gather, 'no one gathers' the post-battle desolation, men gone and camp empty, only the abandoned tents left; 'the returned horses still know the tattered flags' writes the returned warhorses still recognizing the tattered battle flags, 'the returned horses know the flags' writing the battlefield's grief through the returned horses' deep feeling — the warhorses returned, still knowing the old flags, and the master already lost in the battle. Two lines, one the abandoned tents' no one to gather, one the tattered flags' still recognized by the horse, through the thing writing the man, through the horse writing the man, writing the battlefield's carnage and the thing's presence and the man's loss as startling to the eye. The poet writes not directly the old friend's death, but through this post-battle detail, restrained and deep, the five-word regulated verse's model brush of 'writing grief through detail'.

欲祭疑君在，天涯哭此时。

I long to offer you sacrifice, yet suspect you are still alive; at the far end of the earth I weep for this hour.

我想设祭吊念，却又怀疑你尚在人世，只能在天涯海角痛哭此时。

I would sacrifice to you, and yet doubt you live; at the world's edge, I weep at this hour.

尾联写哀思之情，是全诗情感的归结点。「欲祭疑君在」写想设祭吊念，却又怀疑你尚在人世，「欲祭」见其本欲设祭以尽哀思，「疑君在」见其又怕误信其死——因为消息断绝，存亡未卜，故有此欲祭而不敢祭的复杂心理；「天涯哭此时」写只能在天涯痛哭此时，「天涯」见其身在远方、不得亲至祭吊，「哭此时」见其哀思无处寄托。两句写尽生死不明、存亡难卜的哀痛，欲祭而疑、疑而愈悲，曲折深婉，把生者对亡者无尽的哀思写得真切而深沉，是全诗境界最高的收束之笔。

The closing couplet writes the grief, the landing of the poem's emotion. 'I would sacrifice to you, and yet doubt you live' writes the wish to sacrifice and mourn, and yet the doubt that he still lives, 'would sacrifice' showing the original wish to make the offering and fulfill the grief, 'doubt you live' showing the fear of wrongly believing him dead — because the messages are cut, survival and ruin unguessed, hence this complex psychology of wishing to sacrifice and daring not; 'at the world's edge, I weep at this hour' writing the weeping at the world's edge at this hour, 'the world's edge' showing the body's far away, unable to come in person to the mourning, 'weep at this hour' showing the grief's nowhere to rest. Two lines write to the full the life-death unclear, survival and ruin hard to foretell's grief, wishing to sacrifice and doubting, doubting and the greater grief, winding and deep, writing the living's endless grief for the dead as true and deep, the highest-realm closing brush of the whole.

Study

Word focus

没全师 'The whole army swallowed' states the annihilation of an entire force. 'Mo' means to sink and be overwhelmed, conveying the cruelty of war; 'quan shi' (the whole army) sets 'all' against 'swallowed,' so that an entire host lost in a single defeat seems all the more catastrophic. In three plain syllables it is shattering: the friend vanished inside this catastrophe, and it is the starting point of the poem's grief. 「没全师」写全军覆没之惨，「没」字见其陷没、覆没，写尽战争的残酷；「全师」指全军，以「全」衬「没」，全军之众而一朝尽没，愈见其惨。三字于平实中见触目惊心，故人便在这覆没之中没了消息，是全诗哀思的起点，也是写战争之惨的点睛之笔。「没全师」一字之用而全篇生色，与诗中情韵相为表里，正见诗人炼字之精与匠心之独运。读者于此等处若细细体会，自能领会其于平淡之中见功力、于寻常处见神奇之妙。

断 'Cut off' describes the severing of all communication between the Tibetan and Han lands, and is the key word of the second couplet. It marks the finality of silence: with the two sides at war, no news could pass, so the friend's fate was unknowable. Beyond the literal blockade it carries the poet's helpless grief at being unable to learn anything of his friend, an example of one word writing a world of frustration. 「断」字写蕃汉之间消息断绝，是颔联写生死不明之关键。「蕃汉断消息」着一「断」，见音信之绝、消息不通——战没于蕃地，两军对峙，故人生死难知。着一「断」字，既写战乱之中消息难通之实，亦暗含诗人欲知故人下落而不可得的怅惘与哀伤，是「以一字写尽无奈」的妙笔。「断」一字之用而全篇生色，与诗中情韵相为表里，正见诗人炼字之精与匠心之独运。读者于此等处若细细体会，自能领会其于平淡之中见功力、于寻常处见神奇之妙。

识 'Recognize' is the key word of the third couplet. The returning horse still knows the tattered banner: the beast remembers the old standard though its master is dead. Writing a man's death through an animal's seeming attachment, the word makes the battlefield's desolation and the pathos of things surviving their owners unforgettable, a masterstroke of writing feeling through objects. 「识」字是颈联写战场悲怆的关键。「归马识残旗」着一「识」，写归来的战马还认得残破的军旗——马犹识旧旗，而主人已没，物在人亡、马存人去，战场的惨烈与悲怆尽在这一「识」字之中。以马之深情写人之已没，含蓄而深沉，是「以物写人」的点睛之笔。「识」一字之用而全篇生色，与诗中情韵相为表里，正见诗人炼字之精与匠心之独运。读者于此等处若细细体会，自能领会其于平淡之中见功力、于寻常处见神奇之妙。

疑 'Suspect' captures the complex psychology of wanting to sacrifice yet fearing the friend may live. He wishes to hold the rite that mourns the dead, yet the total silence of news makes him hesitate to believe in the death. The word gives the elegy its tortuous, indirect turn: wanting to mourn yet not daring to, suspecting yet hoping, the sorrow deepens precisely because it can find no certainty. 「疑」字写欲祭而疑其尚在的复杂心理，是尾联哀思的关键。「欲祭疑君在」着一「疑」，见其本欲设祭而因存亡未卜而迟疑——因消息断绝，故不能确知故人是死是生，欲祭而疑、疑而愈悲。「疑」字把生死不明之下的哀思写得曲折深婉，是写悼亡复杂心理的妙笔，也是全诗情感最细腻处。「疑」一字之用而全篇生色，与诗中情韵相为表里，正见诗人炼字之精与匠心之独运。读者于此等处若细细体会，自能领会其于平淡之中见功力、于寻常处见神奇之妙。