秋暮吟望
[清]赵执信
小阁高栖老一枝，
闲吟了不为秋悲。
寒山常带斜阳色，
新月偏明落叶时。
烟水极天[1]鸿有影，
霜风卷地菊无姿。
二更短烛三升酒，
北斗低横未拟窥[2]。
注释：
[1]极天：形容湖水浩渺无边。
[2]拟窥：拟，打算。窥：窥视，观看。
Late Autumn
Zhao Zhixin
I perch in little bower like an olden tree;
I croon at leisure not because autumn grieves me.
Cold hills oft bear the rays of the sun on decline;
The crescent moon prefers o’er fallen leaves to shine.
Wild geese leave shadows on waves blending with the sky;
When frosty winds sweep the land, chrysanthemums sigh.
A jar of wine before short candle at midnight,
The Dipper hanging low fades and is lost to sight.
“Autumn Evening Poems and Views” is a poem by Zhao Zhixin, a poet of the Qing Dynasty. This poem does not deviate from the traditional sentiment of sadness in autumn among Chinese literati. The season is autumn and the time is dusk and sunset. The first couplet says that he is willing to “live on a branch for old age” and “not be sad for autumn”, but in fact it is a helpless sigh for the unchangeable status quo. It seems open-minded, but in fact it is helpless; the following three couplets are mainly composed of low-pitched images such as “slanting sun”, “fallen leaves”, “wild geese”, “chrysanthemums”, “short candles”, “low-hanging Big Dipper”, etc., which are combined into a chapter, and the feeling of melancholy and frustration is beyond words.
