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五代 Five Dynasties · 词 Ci lyric

喜迁莺·晓月坠

Orioles Migrating to the Capital · Moon Descends at Dawn

李煜

Li Yu

爱情love 春思spring longing 婉约Refined style

喜迁莺晓月坠，宿云微，无语枕频欹。
梦回芳草思依依，天远雁声稀。
啼莺散，馀花乱，寂寞画堂深院。
片红休埽尽从伊，留待舞人归。

Moon descends at dawn, last clouds thin;
Wordless, I lean on the pillow again and again.
Waking from dream, sweet grass, thoughts clinging—
Sky far, wild-goose cries scarce.
Crying orioles scatter, spent flowers drift;
Lonely, the painted hall, the deep court.
Let the fallen red lie—leave it to her;
Keep it for the dancing one's return.

Listen

Meaning

The dawn moon sinks from the blue; night clouds have thinned. Wordless, I lean again and again on the pillow. Waking from dream, still clinging to sweet grass, she is as far as the wild-goose cry at the sky's edge. Crying orioles scatter, spent flowers drift and fall, leaving only the lonely painted hall and deep courtyard. Let the fallen red lie, do not sweep it—keep it for the dancing one's return.

拂晓的月亮坠向天边，夜空的宿云渐渐微淡，我默默无言，频频斜倚在枕上。梦回醒来，芳草萋萋牵动我绵绵不尽的思念，天远路长，雁声稀疏。啼晓的黄莺已经飞散，枝头的残花零乱飘落，只剩下寂寞的画堂与深深的庭院。片片落红休要扫去，任凭它铺满阶前，留待那起舞的人儿归来。

Appreciation

The upper part reverses and surges: from dawn scene into dream-returning thought. 'Moon descends at dawn, last clouds thin' opens in antithesis, quiet yet faintly melancholy; 'wordless, I lean on the pillow again and again' writes anguish through action. The lower part flows on with late-spring courtyard scene; 'crying orioles scatter, spent flowers drift' uses motion to set off stillness; 'lonely, the painted hall, the deep court' closes the space. The last two lines—'let the fallen red lie… keep for the dancing one's return'—suddenly turn to a lovesick fancy: not sweeping fallen flowers to await her return, unreasonable yet wonderful, writing longing to its tender depth. The whole is densely imaged yet far in spirit.

【白话串讲】天快亮了，月亮落下，李煜睡不着。梦里回到芳草萋萋的旧时光。“片红休埽尽从伊，留待舞人归”——落花不用扫，留给跳舞的人回来看。他还在等人，那个人却再也回不来了。【意象与手法】此词上片逆势翻腾，由破晓之景入梦回之思：「晓月坠，宿云微」对偶起笔，静谧中暗含惆怅；「无语枕频欹」以动作写怅惘。下片顺笔写暮春院景，「啼莺散，馀花乱」以动景衬静，「寂寞画堂深院」收束空间。结二句「片红休埽尽从伊，留待舞人归」忽作痴语，不扫落花以待伊归，无理而妙，将思念写到缠绵深处，全词意象密丽而气韵悠远。【情感与主旨】李煜（937—978），字重光，号钟隐，南唐后主，千古词帝。此词旧说多以为作于大周后（周娥皇）去世后的暮春，时李煜独处深宫，借春景写对亡妻的刻骨追忆；亦有学者认为是软禁生涯中泛写相思之作。无论系年何属，词中舞人归的痴盼与寂寞画堂深院的孤境，都透出悼亡与身世交织的凄楚，是其深婉词风的代表。【名句点睛】常考「梦回芳草思依依，天远雁声稀」中芳草、雁声的意象内涵（芳草代相思，雁稀喻音信杳然）；结句「片红休埽尽从伊，留待舞人归」的无理而妙与痴情笔法；「晓月坠，宿云微」的对偶起笔与氛围营造。注意全词由晓及暮的时间推移与由景及情的章法。

Background

Li Yu (937–978), courtesy name Chongguang, style name Zhongyin, was the Last Lord of Southern Tang, the 'Poem Emperor through the ages'. This lyric is titled 'Orioles Migrating to the Capital · Moon Descends at Dawn' in collections like Cao Shu Bicui. Old accounts often take it as written the first late spring after the death of his wife Empress Zhou the Elder (Zhou Ehuang), when Li Yu, alone in the deep palace, used spring scene to write his bone-deep remembrance of the dead wife. Yet some scholars hold it is a general love lyric from his captivity. Whatever the dating, the foolish hope of 'the dancing one's return' and the loneliness of 'lonely painted hall, deep court' both reveal a desolation woven of mourning and fate—representative of his later deep, gentle style.

此词为五代南唐后主李煜所作。李煜（937—978），字重光，号钟隐，南唐末代君主，工书善画，精通音律，尤以词名世，被后人誉为千古词帝。此词《花草粹编》等题作《喜迁莺·晓月坠》，属其前期宫闱词向后期哀感词过渡之作。旧说多以为作于大周后（周娥皇）去世后的第一个暮春：大周后通书史、善音律，与李煜伉俪情深，其病逝对后主打击极大，李煜曾亲撰诔文哀悼。时值暮春，晓月坠、莺散花落，诗人独处深宫，触景生情，遂借春景写对亡妻的刻骨追忆，词中「舞人归」的痴盼正是对逝者的痴望，隐含着人鬼殊途的绝望。亦有学者认为此词作于李煜被俘北上、软禁汴京期间，是泛写相思的寄慨之作。无论系年何属，词中「寂寞画堂深院」的孤境与「留待舞人归」的痴语，都交织着悼亡与身世飘零的凄楚，是其深婉词风的代表，也显示了他由伶工之词向士大夫之词转变的轨迹，在词史上有承上启下之功。

Art

The upper part reverses and surges, from dawn scene into dream-returning thought: 'Moon descends at dawn, last clouds thin' opens in antithesis, quiet yet faintly melancholy; 'wordless, I lean on the pillow again and again' writes anguish through action. The lower part flows on with late-spring courtyard scene; 'crying orioles scatter, spent flowers drift' uses motion to set off stillness; 'lonely, the painted hall, the deep court' closes the space. The last two lines—'let the fallen red lie, leave it to her; keep for the dancing one's return'—suddenly turn to a lovesick fancy, not sweeping fallen flowers to await her return, unreasonable yet wonderful, writing longing to its tender depth. Densely imaged yet far in spirit.

此词上片逆势翻腾，下片顺笔写景，章法于转折中见浑成。上片由破晓之景入梦回之思：「晓月坠，宿云微」以对偶起笔，写拂晓月落云淡之景，静谧清冷中暗含惆怅；「无语枕频欹」由景及人，以「无语」「频欹」两个细节写梦回之后默默无言、辗转斜倚之态，动作反复而心事重重；「梦回芳草思依依，天远雁声稀」由梦回引出情思，芳草之近与天雁之远虚实相生，思念由绵长而渺茫。下片转写暮春院景：「啼莺散，馀花乱」以动景写春暮之衰飒，莺啼花乱的纷扰反衬画堂深院的寂静；「寂寞画堂深院」以空间收束，孤寂之感弥漫全篇。结二句「片红休埽尽从伊，留待舞人归」忽作痴语：不扫落花以待归人，无理而妙，将思念写到缠绵深挚、不可解脱的境地。全词由晓而暮、由外而内、由景而情、由情而痴，层次分明而气韵一贯，深得五代词含蓄蕴藉之神。其以痴语写痴情、以动作传心绪的笔法，上承温庭筠、韦庄，下启晏殊、欧阳修，是婉约词由艳情向深情演进的重要一环，读来尤觉情致深婉、余味不尽。

Allusions

'Sweet grass' transforms the Chu Ci 'the prince wanders and does not return, spring grass grows lush' and Bai Juyi's 'distant grass invades the old road' tradition, using sweet grass for the longed-for one; 'wild-goose cries scarce' quietly inherits the 'wild-goose-foot letter' tale, meaning news is gone. 'Let the fallen red lie' transforms the Tang tradition of cherishing flowers, not sweeping fallen red to keep for the dancing one, quietly using Wang Jian's 'palace maids sweep fallen flowers' and Han Wo's 'fallen flowers silent'—infatuation to the bone.

词中「芳草」化用《楚辞·招隐士》「王孙游兮不归，春草生兮萋萋」的传统意象，以春草之萋萋喻思念之绵绵，后世芳草遂成为相思怀远的固定意象，白居易「远芳侵古道」、李煜「离恨恰如春草」皆承此脉，此处以「芳草思依依」写梦回后情思之蔓延，贴切而含蓄。「雁声稀」暗用雁足传书之典，《汉书·苏武传》载苏武雁足系书得归汉，后世以雁为音信使者，此处反用之，雁稀则音书杳然，伊人远隔。「片红休埽」化用唐人惜花伤春的传统，王建《宫词》写宫人扫落花之景，韩偓「落花犹自舞」亦有惜花之意，李煜反其道而行之，不扫落红以待归人，把惜花之情升华为痴情之盼。「画堂深院」暗合温庭筠「画堂」意象，写深闺之寂。全词用典融化无痕，皆化为眼前景与心中情，深得五代词含蓄蕴藉之妙。尤须注意，李煜用典不主炫博，而主传情，芳草、雁声、落红诸意象层层叠加，皆指向同一痴情，典与情浑然一体，正是其词所以高出流辈之处。

Commentary

Modern scholar Yu Bixia commented on this lyric: 'Late spring, flowers fly, palace maids scattered; the sweet news is only prayed for in dreams, the fallen red kept for the returner—extreme writing of bored thought.' Moderns say Li Yu's later lyrics are 'coarse robe, disordered hair, yet the national beauty cannot be hidden'; this lyric writes deep sorrow in dense imagery, of a piece with his 'Qing Ping Yue' ('wild goose news unreliable, the road far, home-dream hard to make'), enough to show the 'Poem Emperor's' depth in love.

近代词学家俞陛云《唐五代两宋词选释》评此词：「春晚花飞，宫人零落，芳讯则但祈入梦，落红则留待归人，极写无聊之思。」点出此词以痴语写痴情的特色。王国维《人间词话》论李煜「生于深宫之中，长于妇人之手」，然其词「眼界始大，感慨遂深」，此词虽写闺阁春思，而「留待舞人归」的痴望中已暗含身世之悲。近人谓李煜后期词「粗服乱头，不掩国色」，此词以密丽意象写深哀，与其《清平乐》「雁来音信无凭，路遥归梦难成」同一机杼，皆以雁、芳草写音书难凭之思。与冯延巳《采桑子》「花前失却游春侣」相比，冯词清丽、李词深婉，可见五代词人同写闺思而各具面目。要之，此词于婉约中见沉痛，是李煜词风由浓丽转向深哀的过渡之作，对宋代晏殊、欧阳修一派的婉约词有直接影响。全词以小令之体写深挚之情，痴语动人，境界自高，堪称五代春思词中的绝唱，历来选本皆列为李煜代表作之一。

Prosody

Form Lyric, 'Orioles Migrating to the Capital', double-tune 47 characters (Five-Dynasties form)词·喜迁莺（双调四十七字，五代体）

Rhyme Upper part rhymes 'thin, lean, scarce' (zhi-wei); lower part 'drift, court, return' (han-shan / wei mixed)上片押微、欹、稀（平声支微韵），下片押乱、院、归（寒删韵通协），平仄交替

Tone pattern Short lyric; varied long-short lines; level-oblique per tune score小令句式长短错落，三字句与五字句、七字句相间，声情低回婉转

Reading note 'Orioles Migrating to the Capital' is a Tang Jiaofang tune; Li Yu's form is double-tune, slightly different from the Song oblique-rhyme form喜迁莺为唐教坊曲名，又名鹤冲天、万年枝，因韦庄词「家家楼上簇神仙，争看鹤冲天」而得名，五代时流行，双调四十七字，上片五句四平韵，下片五句三仄韵，平仄转换，声情富于变化。李煜此体为五代通行小令，与宋人仄韵体稍异，保留了唐五代词以平韵为主、长短句错落的早期风貌。上片三字对起「晓月坠，宿云微」，音节清亮短促，正合破晓光景；「无语枕频欹」五字顿挫，写人之慵懒；「梦回芳草思依依，天远雁声稀」七字、五字相承，舒展悠长。下片「啼莺散，馀花乱」复以三字对起，「寂寞画堂深院」六字收束，「片红休埽尽从伊」七字转出痴语，结句五字归落。全词平仄交替、声情相应，读来一唱三叹，是五代小令声律与情韵兼美的典范。

Line by line

晓月坠，宿云微，无语枕频欹。

The dawn moon sinks, the lingering clouds fade; speechless, again and again I lean upon the pillow.

拂晓的月亮坠向天边，宿云微淡，我默默无言、频频斜倚在枕上

The dawn moon drops toward the horizon, the night clouds are faint; silent and wordless, I shift again and again upon the pillow.

起拍三句写破晓之景与初醒之人，对偶与散句并用。「晓月坠，宿云微」以三字对起，写拂晓月落云淡之景，静谧清冷中暗含时光流逝的惆怅；「无语枕频欹」由景及人，以「无语」「频欹」两个细节写梦回之后默默无言、辗转斜倚之态，动作反复而心事重重，不言愁而愁态毕现。此三句以景起、以人收，由外而内，为全词定下清冷缠绵的基调，是五代小令以景带情的典型起法，笔致蕴藉，含而不露。

The opening three lines write the dawn scene and the newly wakened figure, parallel and free phrasing together. 'The dawn moon sinks, the lingering clouds fade' opens with three-character couplets, writing the dawn of the moon's fall and the pale clouds, a quiet cold in which the wistfulness of time's passage is hidden. 'Speechless, again and again I lean upon the pillow' moves from scene to person, using the two details of 'speechless' and 'again and again' to write the silent, tossing state after waking, the action repeated and the mind burdened, grief visible without naming grief. Three lines open on scenery and close on the person, moving from without to within, fixing the cold, lingering keynote of the whole, the typical opening of a Five Dynasties small verse that leads feeling through scenery, the brush reserved and unexposed.

梦回芳草思依依，天远雁声稀。

Waking from dreams, the fragrant grass, and my longing lingers; the sky is far, the wild-geese cries few.

梦回醒来，芳草萋萋牵动我绵绵不尽的思念，天远路长，雁声稀疏

Waking from the dream, fragrant grass stretches out, and my longing clings; the sky is far, the wild-geese calls grow sparse.

「梦回」承上启下，点明前之「枕频欹」乃梦回后事。「芳草思依依」化用《楚辞·招隐士》王孙游兮不归、春草生兮萋萋之句，以芳草之萋萋喻思念之绵绵，情思如春草蔓延无尽；「天远雁声稀」以天边稀疏的雁声写伊人远隔、音信难凭，暗用雁足传书之典而反用之，雁稀则书杳。一近（芳草）一远（天雁），一实一虚，将思念写得既绵长又渺茫，是此词上片的情感核心，也是全词最见情韵的一联。

'Waking from dreams' carries above and opens below, pointing out that the 'again and again on the pillow' above follows from waking. 'The fragrant grass, and my longing lingers' adapts the 'Verses of Chu' summons to the recluse—'the wanderer roves and returns not, spring grass grows lush'—using the lush spring grass to image the winding, endless longing. 'The sky is far, the wild-geese cries few' uses the sparse goose cries at the edge of the sky to write the beloved's distance and the difficulty of news, secretly turning the allusion to the goose bearing a letter to opposite use: few geese, few letters. One near (the fragrant grass), one far (the sky geese), one real one virtual, writing the longing as at once long and dim—the emotional core of the first stanza and the most lyrical couplet of the whole.

寂寞画堂深院

Lonely the painted hall, deep the courtyard.

只剩下寂寞的画堂与深深的庭院

Lonely the painted hall, and deep the courtyard.

此句为下片转折之枢纽，以空间意象收束上片之思、开启下片之景。「画堂」「深院」本是华美深闭的居所意象，冠以「寂寞」二字，则堂之华丽反衬人之孤单，院之深闭更显心之封闭，景语即情语，物我同悲。五字之间，无人之境与孤独之人相对无言，与晏殊「无可奈何花落去」的寂寥同一机杼。此句承「啼莺散，馀花乱」之动景而来，以静收动，更见春暮人寂的落寞，为结拍痴语蓄势，是词中以景写情的关键一句。

This line is the turning hinge of the lower stanza, closing the longing above in spatial imagery and opening the scene below. 'Painted hall' and 'deep courtyard' are by nature images of the splendid, closed dwelling; crowned with 'lonely,' the splendor of the hall sets off the person's singleness, and the depth of the courtyard shows the closed heart, scenery being feeling, thing and self in one grief. Within five characters, the unpeopled place and the solitary person face each other speechless, the same mechanism as Yan Shu's 'helplessly the flowers fall.' This line follows the moving scene of 'the singing orioles dispersed, the remaining blossoms in disarray,' closing motion in stillness, the more to show the desolation of late spring and the solitary person, storing force for the痴 speech of the close—the key line of scenery writing feeling in the verse.

片红休埽尽从伊，留待舞人归。

Do not sweep the fallen petals; leave them as they are, keeping them for the dancing one's return.

片片落红休要扫去，任凭它铺满阶前，留待那起舞的人儿归来

Do not sweep away the scattered red; let them lie where they will, kept for the dancing girl's coming home.

结拍忽作痴语，无理而妙，为全词点睛之笔。落红满地，本应扫去，词人却嘱「休埽」，任凭落花堆积，只为「留待舞人归」。「舞人」当指所思之人（或亡妻大周后），不扫落花以待伊归，是痴情至极的想象之语：明知人未必归来，仍以落红为约、以等待为凭，把无可奈何的思念写得缠绵入骨。埽（扫）字古雅，从伊即任它之意，口语入词而情味自深。此二句将前文之愁推至痴境，以痴语写深情，是五代词无理而妙的典范，也是全词情感的最终落脚，余韵悠长。

The close turns suddenly to foolish speech, unreasonable yet exquisite, the luminous point of the whole. The fallen petals cover the ground and should be swept away, yet the poet bids 'do not sweep,' letting the blossoms pile up, only 'keeping them for the dancing one's return.' 'The dancing one' refers to the person longed for (perhaps the late Empress Zhou); not sweeping the petals to await her return is the imagination of extreme devotion—knowing well she may not return, yet taking the fallen blossoms as a tryst and the waiting as a pledge, writing helpless longing to the bone. The word 'sweep' is classical, 'let them' means to leave it be, colloquial in the verse yet deep in feeling. These two lines push the foregoing grief to the realm of folly, writing deep devotion through foolish speech, the model of the Five Dynasties 'unreasonable yet exquisite,' and the final landing of the lyric's feeling, the afterecho long.

Study

Word focus

欹 A key expression in the poem. Read it as an image, mood, or grammar point in context. 「无语枕频欹」之「欹」，斜倚、倾斜之意，本作欹侧解，此处写人斜倚枕上之态。「频欹」即频频斜倚，一个动作反复为之，正见梦回之后辗转反侧、心绪不宁之苦：躺下又斜倚，斜倚又躺下，动作的重复暴露了内心无法安顿的相思。「欹」字本为动态之词，用在此处却写出静态中的焦灼，比直写愁思更具画面感与体感。五代词人善于以细微动作传微妙心绪，此字与温庭筠「鬓云欲度香腮雪」之度同一机杼，炼字精到而不露斧痕，最能见李煜以小见大的词笔。

依依 A key expression in the poem. Read it as an image, mood, or grammar point in context. 「梦回芳草思依依」之「依依」，叠词，状缠绵不舍之情，与《诗经·采薇》「昔我往矣，杨柳依依」之依依一脉相承。此处「思依依」写情思如芳草般绵延不绝、缠绵依恋，叠词之音读来舒缓低回，正合思念之绵长。且「依依」与「芳草」相配，草之萋萋与思之绵绵相互生发，化抽象之情为可感之态；又与下句「雁声稀」之稀相对，一多一少、一近一远，衬出思念愈浓而音信愈稀的落差。叠词之用，既增声情之美，又添情思之厚，是五代词以叠字传情的妙笔。

休埽 Telling not to sweep fallen flowers, a foolish wish to keep them for her return; one word shows deep feeling, unreasonable yet wonderful. 「片红休埽尽从伊」之「休埽」，休要扫去，埽即扫之古字，更见词之典雅。此二字是全词无理而妙的关键：落红满地，扫去本是常情常理，词人却反其道而行之，嘱「休埽」而「尽从伊」（任凭它去），看似痴语，实则是将满腔无处安放的思念寄托于满地落红——留落红以待归人，是把等待的时间具象化了，仿佛落红一日不扫，伊人便还有归期。以「休埽」写痴情，比直写思念深婉百倍，是李煜深哀浅貌、短语长情词风的集中体现，一字之设而全词境界全出。