人生不相见，动如参与商。今夕复何夕，共此灯烛光！
rén shēng bù xiāng jiàn, dòng rú shēn yǔ shāng。 jīn xī fù hé xī, gòng cǐ dēng zhú guāng！
少壮能几时？鬓发各已苍！访旧半为鬼，惊呼热中肠。
shào zhuàng néng jǐ shí ？bìn fà gè yǐ cāng ！fǎng jiù bàn wéi guǐ, jīng hū rè zhōng cháng。
焉知二十载，重上君子堂。昔别君未婚，儿女忽成行。
yān zhī èr shí zǎi, chóng shàng jūn zǐ táng。 xī bié jūn wèi hūn, ér nǚ hū chéng háng。
怡然敬父执，问我来何方？问答乃未已，驱儿罗酒浆。
yí rán jìng fù zhí, wèn wǒ lái hé fāng。 wèn dá wèi jí yǐ， ér nǚ luó jiǔ jiāng。
夜雨剪春韭，新炊间黄粱。主称会面难，一举累十觞。
yè yǔ jiǎn chūn jiǔ, xīn chuī jiàn huáng liáng。 zhǔ chēng huì miàn nán， yī jǔ lěi shí shāng。
十觞亦不醉，感子故意长。明日隔山岳，世事两茫茫。
shí shāng yì bù zuì， gǎn zǐ gù yì cháng。 míng rì gé shān yuè， shì shì liǎng máng máng
This poem is written simply and with sincerity, in a clear sentence and poetic structure. It differs from most ancient Chinese poems, which are characterized by as sense of melancholy and heaviness of tone bringing it closer to the simple and rustic poetry of the Han and Wei dynasties and the works of Tao Yuanming.
However, this is not to discount its emotional content which is richer and more complex than that of the Han and Wei Chinese poetries, with emotional fluctuations unique to Du Fu, such as ripples and waves, unfolding within the work as a kind of internal melancholy.
人生不相见，动如参与商。今夕复何夕，共此灯烛光！
The first four lines express that in life, people are like the stars Canopus and Altair, separated by great distances, unable to meet. (人生不相见，动如参与商) But tonight, we are reunited under the glow of the lamp, and can converse with one another. (今夕复何夕，共此灯烛光！)
These lines capture the emotions of both sadness and happiness, bringing a strong sense of life's vicissitudes into the poem. When the poet meets Wei Ba for the first time in three years, the An Lushan Rebellion had been raging for over three years. Although the two capitals had been recaptured, the rebels were still rampant, and the situation remained tumultuous and unstable.
少壮能几时？鬓发各已苍！访旧半为鬼，惊呼热中肠。
The changes in each other's appearance after so many years of separation are the most noticeable. When they parted, both were still young, but now both have gray hair. The lines "少壮能几时？鬓发各已苍！When we were young, who knew how fleeting it was, now our hair has grown gray" express a sense of regret and shock at the rapid changes in life.
They then ask about the whereabouts of their relatives and old friends, only to find out that half of them have passed away. (访旧半为鬼) They can't help but exclaim in disbelief, feeling the pain of loss. (惊呼热中肠)
It is not normal for someone like Du Fu, who was only forty-eight years old at the time, to have already lost half of his loved ones. If the opening line "人生不相见people seldom meet" already hinted at the zeitgeist of the times, then this loss of half of their loved ones further implies the turmoil and upheaval of the era. The two lines "今夕复何夕，共此灯烛光How can we know? Together under this lamp's light" follow on from the previous lines, using a rhetorical question to express the unexpected feeling of being able to meet again. This evokes a mix of relief and sorrow.
焉知二十载，重上君子堂。
The final line, "who knows twenty years have passed, to meet again in this noble hall," implies a sense of disbelief that they have survived to see each other once more. This line suggests both a sense of gratitude for their continued life and sorrow for the hardships they have faced.
The first ten sentences express a sentiment of emotion. Following that, it transitions to narration, which is infused with reflections on human experience.
昔别君未婚，儿女忽成行。
"During our previous parting, you were still unmarried, and suddenly your children have grown up and are accompanying you now.
With twenty years having elapsed, this reunion presents the scene of your children having grown up and left the nest. There is also a lament for the sudden arrival of old age." These two sentences express the idea that at the time of their separation, the speaker's friend was not yet married and had no family. In a blink of an eye, their children have grown up and are accompanying them now. With twenty years having passed, this reunion presents the scene of his friend's grown-up children.
怡然敬父执，问我来何方？问答乃未已，驱儿罗酒浆。
"怡然敬父执They greeted my father's old friend with respect and warmth, 问我来何方inquiring about my origin. 问答乃未已Before I could finish our conversation, 驱儿罗酒浆you urged your children to quickly bring out the food and wine." These four sentences describe the well-mannered and amiable behavior of the speaker's friend's children. The poet writes in a deliberate manner, always conveying a sincere and touching sense of affection. After the sentence "inquiring about my origin," the poet could have written about the tumultuous journey to get there, but he chooses to briefly pass over it with the sentence "before we could finish our conversation," demonstrating the subtlety and refinement of his choice of words.
夜雨剪春韭，新炊间黄粱。主称会面难，一举累十觞。
"夜雨剪春韭Spring leeks were harvested during a night of rain, 新炊间黄粱and freshly cooked yellow rice was presented for me to savor." These two sentences describe how the hermit enthusiastically treated the speaker with hospitality. The dishes was freshly cut spring leeks gathered in the rain, and the rice was freshly cooked, fragrant with yellow rice. This was a simple home-cooked meal that accompanied genuine friendship between old friends.
"主称会面难The host lamented that it was difficult to meet, 一举累十觞and he drank more than ten cups of wine in one sitting. Even after drinking more than ten cups, he still didn't feel drunk." These four sentences express that the host felt that the opportunity to meet was rare, and so he drank freely, emptying more than ten cups with the melancholy of the moment keeping him sober.
十觞亦不醉，感子故意长。
The scene depicts the host and guests enjoying themselves with drinks, and old friends reuniting to reminisce. The host's inner turmoil is evident as they down ten cups of wine without hesitation. Du Fu's excitement can be imagined, given the circumstances. "感子故意长Intentionally prolonging the parting" summarizes the emotions of the past and present, tying together the previous lines.
明日隔山岳，世事两茫茫。
"The next day, separated by mountains and rivers, the world is vast and boundless." The final two lines convey the sadness of tomorrow's separation, and the vastness of the world. The ending responds to the beginning, "Life doesn't always reunite like old merchants," implying that tomorrow's parting is more mournful than yesterday's reunion.
The poem begins with a lament about the lack of meetings between friends, but when it turns to "On this night, on what other night, could we share this candlelight?" the poet's inner excitement is particularly evident. However, instead of expressing joy about the reunion, the poem then moves on to four lines from "When will we be young again?" to "Surprised, I cry out, my heart aglow," and the emotions become more melancholic. The middle section of the poem, with its wine feast and the poet's happy tipsiness, dilutes the desolate feelings of life's uncertainties, but the words of persuasion to drink bring a sense of separation and sorrow. The poem begins with "Friends who do not meet in life" and ends with "The world is vast and hard to traverse," creating a sense of vastness and placing the warmth of the night in a desolate emotional tone. These are the expressions of the poem's internal melancholy.
If we compare this poem to 孟浩然Meng Haoran's "过故人庄Passing the Former Residence of a Friend," we can see that both express a simple and profound friendship, but due to the different atmospheres of the times, the feelings and writing styles of the poets are very different. Meng Haoran's mood is calm and happy, and even his writing style is light. Du Fu, on the other hand, experiences a mix of sadness and joy, with deep emotional fluctuations within, reflected in his writing as natural and rustic, yet still extremely heavy in tone.