This is a poem about a woman missing her husband, but the metaphor in the second half of the poem is somewhat new. Its gentleness and kindness are particularly moving. Du Gouhe of the late Tang Dynasty wrote in his poem “Spring Boudoir Complaint”: “In the morning, I am happy that the flowers are in full bloom, but in the evening, I am sad that the flowers have fallen into the dust. I am not sad that the flowers have fallen early, but that I am like a flower.” Although Du Gouhe’s last two lines do not blame others, they still have a sense of resentment. This poem is very gentle.
这是一首拟古的思妇词，但下片的比拟却能多少翻出一些新意来，其温柔敦厚处，尤令人怆然动容。晚唐杜苟鹤《春闺怨》诗：“朝喜花艳春，暮悲花委尘。不悲花落早，悲妾似花身。”杜苟鹤末两句虽未怨天尤人，然犹有怨恨之意。本词却是一味温柔。
《临江仙》 王国维
闻说金微郎戌处，
昨宵梦向金微；
不知今又过辽西：
千屯沙上暗，
万骑月中嘶。
郎似梅花侬似叶，
怯来手抚空枝。
可怜开谢不同时，
漫言花落早，
只是叶生迟。
Tune: “Immortal at the River”
I heard my love was gone on garrison at Chin-wei Mountain (1).
Last night my dream took me there,
Not knowing that he had gone already to Liao-hsi (2),
Where the sky darkens over a thousand camps on the sand
And ten thousand horses neigh beneath the moon.
My love is like a plum blossom and I am the leaf,
But all I can caress is a barren branch.
I mourn that flowers go and leaves bud at different times;
Don’t say that flowers fall before their time:
It’s only the leaves that grow too late.
(1) In present Mongolia.
(2) Referring to the area from the present Hopei province to the Liaotung peninsula.
