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宋 Song · 诗 Poem

玉泉观赠高道士

At Yuquan Abbey, Presented to Daoist Gao

张方平

Zhang Fangping

山水landscape 田园pastoral 咏史historical 时序seasons

古屋气象冷，苍崖烟翠中。
龙归半天雨，虎啸一岩风。
露后芝房紫，霜余栢实红。
终期把藜杖，来伴白云翁。

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Meaning

The poet describes the cold, secluded Yuquan Abbey nestled in cliffs and mist, with its dragon-rain and tiger-wind, its purple fungus and red cypress seeds. He promises the Daoist master that one day he will return with a staff to dwell there as a companion, revealing his genuine yearning for a hermit's life.

观中的old屋宇气象清冷，整座道观就掩在苍青的崖壁与烟霭般的翠色之间。云中的龙一归来，半空里便下起雨；山间的虎一长啸，满崖的风就起来了。白露过后，紫色的灵芝在石房间长成；秋霜之余，柏树的子实已经泛红。我终有一天要拄起一根藜茎做的手杖，再来这里陪伴你这位与白云为侣的老人。

Appreciation

The poem assigns each couplet a clear role—form, energy, produce, and person—building the abbey from four sets of images without disorder. The middle couplets contrast beautifully: dragon against tiger, rain against wind, half-sky against one-crag (a natural antithesis born from the Yi's 'cloud follows the dragon, wind follows the tiger'); purple against red, after-dew against past-frost, placing two seasons side by side as a still life. One couplet all motion, the next all stillness—within that the depth of mountain time is contained.

【白话串讲】张方平在玉泉观赠高道士：“古屋气象冷，苍崖烟翠中”。“龙归半天雨，虎啸一岩风”——“终期把藜杖，来伴白云翁”——他写山中的道观。【意象与手法】全篇只用四组物象便立住一座道观：古屋苍崖是它的形，龙雨虎风是它的气，紫芝红柏是它的物产，白云藜杖是它的人。四联各司一职，层层向内，最后落到人身上。中二联的对法尤见工夫：龙对虎、雨对风、半天对一岩，是从《易》『云从龙，风从虎』的旧义里生出的天然对偶；紫对红、露后对霜余，是把两个时令并置成一幅静物。前一联全是动势，后一联全是静色，一动一静间，山中岁月的深浅便都在里头。【情感与主旨】这是赠道士之作，而诗人并不铺陈方外之理，只把对方所居之境写足，敬慕之意自然生出。末联的『终期』二字最要紧：它承认自己此刻仍在世务之中，尚不能留，却把归来立成一个约定。张方平一生在朝在郡，晚年自号乐全居士，对山林之乐向有真实的向慕，此诗的结语不是应酬的客气，而是一句认真的许诺。【名句点睛】『龙归半天雨，虎啸一岩风』十字最为峭拔。不写龙虎之形，只写龙虎之后果——雨与风，把不可见者交给可感者去证明；『半天』言其高远，『一岩』言其近切，一虚一实，一远一近，五言之中气象顿开。『露后芝房紫，霜余栢实红』则以两点颜色收住前联的动荡，冷色的山间忽有紫红二色跳出，极耐看。

Background

Zhang Fangping (1007–1091), style name Andao, late self-title Lequan Hermit, was from Songcheng, Yingtian Prefecture (today's Shangqiu, Henan). A prodigy with memory, he borrowed histories and returned them within ten days having mastered them; in the first year of Jingyou he passed the exceptional-talent exam and the upright-and-incorrupt exam, serving as remonstrance official, drafter, Hanlin academician, censor-in-chief, finance commissioner, and under Shenzong as vice councilor, twice governing Yizhou, known everywhere for leniency and simplicity. In late life he did not support Wang Anshi's New Policies and retired as Junior Preceptor of the Heir Apparent, posthumously titled Wen Ding; Su Shi compiled his Collected Works of Lequan and wrote its preface, considering Zhang a confidant. He took the name 'Lequan' (complete joy) to mean preserving his natural innocence and enjoying what is inherent; in old age he liked associating with recluses, and his collection has many poems to Daoists and monks, revealing his other side beyond official duties. Yuquan ('jade spring') is a common name—where the spring is sweet and clear an abbey is often founded; this Yuquan Abbey was likely a Daoist house he passed while on official travel, its master Daoist Gao devoted to self-cultivation, hence the poem writes his dwelling with alchemical things like dragon, tiger, purple fungus, and cypress seeds. Song literati's intercourse with Daoists was ordinary—partly for health and diet, partly for a cool refuge amid official storms. This poem speaks no mysticism or immortal arts, only scenery to portray a person, ending with a promise to return with a staff—among such friendships the most earnest expression, also revealing the author's early reservation for the 'complete joy' realm.

张方平（一〇〇七—一〇九一），字安道，晚号乐全居士，应天府宋城（今河南商丘）人。他少年强记，借人史籍读之旬日即还而尽得其详；景祐元年举茂材异等，又中贤良方正，历官知谏院、知制诰、翰林学士、御史中丞、三司使，神宗朝拜参知政事，两度出守益州，所至以宽简见称。晚年不附王安石新法，以太子少师致仕，谥文定，苏轼为编《乐全集》并作叙，以知己自居。他自号『乐全』，取义于全其天真、乐其固有，晚岁颇喜与方外之士往来，集中赠道士、题道观、贻长老之作不少，这一类诗最能见他公务之外的另一面。玉泉之名，天下多有，泉甘而清者往往因以立观，此诗所题之玉泉观，当是他任官行役途中所经的一处道院，主人高道士以修真自守，故诗中以龙虎、紫芝、柏实等丹家之物写其居处。宋代士大夫与道流的交往极为寻常，一面是养生服食之需，一面是宦海之中求一片清凉境地。此诗不谈玄理，不称仙术，只以景物写人，结句许以他日拄杖同栖，正是这种交往中最恳切的一种表达，也透露出作者对『乐全』之境早有预约。

Art

The poem's success lies in clear division of labor without losing order. The opening couplet drops a 'cold' character that fixes the old dwelling's mood, then places this cold house into larger emerald with 'within grey cliffs and misty emerald,' cold yet not lone, secluded yet not dead. The second couplet suddenly rises: two instantaneous actions open heaven and earth—dragon and tiger are unseen, yet the poet writes not them but their effects, half-sky rain and one-crag wind, letting readers trust the unseen through felt rain and wind, a cause-from-effect writing stronger than direct depiction of spirits. 'Half sky' and 'one crag' antithesize cleverly, one filling the high void, one pressing before the eyes, opening spatial depth. The third couplet uses still objects and color to gather force; after-dew and past-frost mark two seasons, purple and red placed at line-ends, the cold mountain suddenly warm-colored, hinting the place's nourishing climate. The last couplet turns to human affair; the thorn staff is the hermit's implement, the Old Man of White Clouds the master's title, object and person interlocking; 'at last I hope' pushes the whole from scene to promise, scene and feeling merging. Among the four couplets motion and stillness aid each other, void and real generate each other—a standard five-octave form yet unconstrained.

此诗的经营在于分工明确而层次不乱。首联落笔便是一个『冷』字，把古屋的气象定死，再以『苍崖烟翠中』一句把这座冷屋放进更大的青翠里，冷而不孤，幽而不死。颔联忽起波澜，用两个瞬间的动作撑开天地：龙归、虎啸皆不可见，诗人偏不写龙虎，只写其效验——半天之雨、一岩之风，让读者从风雨的实感里去信那不可见之物，这是以果证因的写法，比正面描摹仙灵有力得多。『半天』与『一岩』的数量词对得极巧，一个铺满高空，一个逼在眼前，空间的纵深由此打开。颈联全用静物与颜色收势，露后、霜余交代两段时令，紫、红二字点在句末，冷调的山中忽然有了暖色，也暗示此地物候可养人。尾联转为人事，藜杖是隐者之具，白云翁是主人之号，一物一人相扣；『终期』二字把全诗从写景推向许诺，境与情在此合流。四联之中动静相济、虚实相生，是五律的正格而不见拘束。

Allusions

The poem uses Daoist and hermit allusions, dense yet unobtrusive. 'Dragon returns' and 'tiger roars' seem mere mountain sights but have two sources: one, the Yi Jing's 'cloud follows the dragon, wind follows the tiger,' things of a kind respond, so dragon rises and rain comes, tiger roars and wind comes—the literal basis; two, alchemists use dragon and tiger for lead and mercury, the meeting of inner-elixir forces, so using them for a Daoist perfectly fits his identity—one phrase, two gains. 'Fungus-rooms' (zhifang) derive from Emperor Wu's Ganquan Palace producing fungi, for which a 'Fungus-Room Song' was made; purple fungus became a symbol of auspice and immortal medicine, valued by Daoist dietetics. 'Cypress seeds' (baishi) are the kernels of cypress, believed by ancient pharmacists and alchemists like Baopuzi to nourish and prolong life, so their appearance in the abbey's autumn is no idle stroke, belonging with purple fungus as things to gather and consume. 'Thorn staff' of thorn-stem is the hermit's standard, common in Du Fu and Bai Juyi, used here to describe his future visit, humble and near. 'Old Man of White Clouds' reaches back to Tao Hongjing's reply to the throne—'all the mountain has is white clouds on the ridge'—later white clouds signified the lofty hermit's retreat; calling the master so is both honorific and fuses him with the mountain's color. All allusions sit in place; the whole reads as mere mountain scenery, unaware of bookishness.

诗中所用皆道家与隐逸的旧典，密而不显。『龙归』『虎啸』表面是山中景象，底下有两重来历：一是《周易》乾卦文言所谓『云从龙，风从虎』，物类相感，故龙起而雨、虎啸而风，此为诗句的字面依据；二是丹家以龙虎代铅汞、喻内丹交会之功，赠道士而用龙虎，正切其修真身份，一语两得。『芝房』本汉武帝时甘泉宫产芝之事，朝廷为作《芝房之歌》，紫芝自此成为祥瑞与仙药的代称，道家服食尤重之。『栢实』即柏子仁，古方书与养生家皆以为可益气延年，《抱朴子》一流的书中屡言服柏实之效，故此物出现在道观的秋景里绝非闲笔，与紫芝同属可采可服之物。『藜杖』以藜茎为杖，是山人隐者的标配，杜甫、白居易诗中常见，用之以自道他日来游之状，语气便谦而近。『白云翁』一称，远绍陶弘景答诏之意——山中所有，唯岭上白云，后世遂以白云指代高士栖隐之境；以此三字称呼主人，既是敬语，也把主人与那片山色合成一体。诸典各安其位，通篇读来只是山中实景，不觉有书卷气。

Commentary

Zhang Fangping's poetry was not praised by predecessors for ornament but for its clear, stern bone and absence of flaccidity. This five-octave is a small specimen: not one ornate word, with 'cold,' 'returns,' 'roars,' 'remains,' 'take' all plain, yet together possessing a cold, lofty, remote grace. Song five-octaves influenced by Jia Dao and Yao He tend to bitter phrasing, often overworking one or two characters and harming the whole; this poem's middle couplets are very steady yet show no carving, showing the author's effort lies in structure not wording. Within his own sequence, this poem pairs with 'Presented to Elder Chen': one to a Daoist, one to a Chan monk, both writing the dweller's abode—the Daoist poem uses dragon, tiger, purple fungus, landing on energy and things; the Chan poem uses wall-gazing and lineage, landing on mind and Dharma, materials following each teaching without confusion, showing his clear discrimination of the two paths, not vague admiration of the mysterious. As for ending with a future co-dwelling pledge, it is a common Song pattern for poems to recluses; its subtlety is the words 'at last I hope' admit present necessity, turning politeness into true feeling. Such works in the Collected Works of Lequan best reveal the patch of mountain forest a long-serving minister kept in his heart.

张方平的诗，前人论之者不以词采见许，而多称其骨力清峻、语不涉靡。这一首五律可作一个小小的标本：全篇不用一个绮丽字面，『冷』『归』『啸』『余』『把』诸字皆朴，而合起来自有寒峭清远之致。宋人五律受贾岛、姚合一路影响者好作苦语，往往在一二字上着力过甚而伤全篇之气；此诗中二联对得极稳，却不见琢痕，可知作者的用力处在结构而不在字面。以他自己的创作序列看，此诗与集中《贻辰长老》可对照读：一赠道士，一赠禅僧，同是写方外之人的居处，赠道士者用龙虎紫芝，落在气与物；赠禅僧者用壁观门风，落在心与法，取材各随其教而不相混，可见他对二家门径有清楚的分辨，不是笼统地慕玄。至于结句以他日同栖为约，是宋人赠隐者诗的常套，妙在『终期』二字承认了当下的不得已，把客套写成了心事。《乐全集》中此类作品，读来最能见出一位长年在朝的重臣心里始终留着的一块山林。

Prosody

Form Five-character regulated octave (lüshi)五言律诗

Rhyme First line does not enter the rhyme; rhyme words are zhong, feng, hong, weng, all in the upper-level dong rhyme, one rhyme throughout, open and resounding.首句不入韵，韵脚为中、风、红、翁，同押上平声东韵，四韵皆开口洪亮，全篇一韵到底。

Tone pattern The opening 'the old dwelling's air is cold' uses five oblique tones in a row, a deliberate rugged modulation; the following couplets observe level-oblique linking rules, the middle two couplets neatly antithetical, closing on a level tone.起句『古屋气象冷』五字皆仄，是有意为之的拗峭之调；以下各联黏对合律，颔颈两联对仗工整，末句以平声收结。

Reading note The poem's sound well aids its realm. The opening line uses five oblique tones in a row, the throat and tongue pressed throughout, reading heavy and blocked—exactly matching 'the old dwelling's air is cold.' The next line 'within grey cliffs and misty emerald' is mostly level tones, the breath suddenly releases; between tight and loose, the cold house seems lifted by the mountain color. The middle couplets differ again: 'the dragon returns and rain fills half the sky' rises level and ends oblique; 'the tiger roars and wind stirs one crag' rises oblique and ends level—one sinking, one rising, like the two motions of rain falling and wind rising; 'roars' is a departing tone, cut at utterance, writing the tiger's fierceness more effortlessly than any onomatopoeia. The third couplet ends on 'purple' and 'red,' one oblique one level, color brightening and dimming with sound, giving the still objects layers. The whole rhymes in the dong rhyme; guan, feng, hong, weng are all spacious in cavity, each line-end carrying an outward-drifting surplus, answering the mountain's empty breadth; especially the last 'weng' is long and gently closed, stating that future pledge calmly, without urgency. A five-octave worst fears is uniform flatness without rise; this poem sets danger with the fully-oblique first line, rests on the bright dong rhyme, and lets the motion-stillness couplets aid each other—sound and meaning travel together throughout.此诗的声音颇能助成境界。起句连用五个仄声，喉舌一路紧压，读来滞重不畅，正与『古屋气象冷』的森然相合；紧接『苍崖烟翠中』一句多平声，气息忽然放开，一紧一松之间，那所冷屋便像是被山色托起来了。中二联的声情又自不同：『龙归半天雨』以平起而末字仄收，『虎啸一岩风』以仄起而末字平收，一沉一扬，恰似雨落与风起的两种势头；『啸』字为去声，出口即断，写虎声之厉，比任何摹声之词都省力。颈联两句句末落在『紫』『红』二字上，一仄一平，颜色随声音一暗一亮，静物遂有层次。全篇押东韵，中、风、红、翁四字皆音腔宽敞，读到句末总有一股向外散开的余气，与山中空阔的实感相应；尤其结句的『翁』字，音长而收势和缓，把那句他日之约说得从容不迫，不带急切。五律最忌通体平顺无起伏，此诗以首句的全仄立险，以东韵的洪亮托底，中间以动静二联互济，声与意始终同行。

Line by line

古屋气象冷，苍崖烟翠中。

The old dwelling's air is cold; it lies within grey cliffs and misty emerald.

观中古旧的屋宇气象清冷，整座道观掩在苍青的崖壁与烟一般的翠色之间。

The old abode has a cold air; it lies among the gray cliffs and misty green.

起联以一个『冷』字定全篇之调。『气象』二字本可用于阔大之境，此处却与『古屋』相配，写一所旧屋自有的森然气息，不是天寒而是境冷，是久无俗客往来所积的清寂。次句立刻把这所冷屋放进大幅的青绿里：『苍崖』是硬的、重的，『烟翠』是软的、浮的，一硬一软叠成山中特有的湿润幽深，末一『中』字把屋宇彻底收进山色，不再让它孤立。五言起联最难在既要点题又要留势，此联点了观、点了境，而龙虎风雨之奇尚未出场，气脉正足。

The opening fixes the poem's key with the single word cold. The word air could be used for a vast realm, yet here it is matched with the old abode, writing the stern breath an old dwelling has of itself - not cold weather but a cold place, the clear stillness long gathered from no vulgar guests coming and going. The second line at once sets this cold abode in a broad sheet of blue-green: gray cliffs are hard and heavy, misty green is soft and floating, hard and soft layered into the peculiar wet depth of the hills, and the final word within draws the abode wholly into the mountain color, no longer letting it stand apart. The hardest thing about a five-character opening is to strike the theme yet leave momentum; this strikes the abode and the realm, while the wonders of dragon, tiger, wind and rain have not yet appeared, the current full.

龙归半天雨，

The dragon returns and rain fills half the sky;

云中的龙一归来，半空里便落下雨。

The dragon returns, and rain falls from the mid-sky,

此句妙在避实就虚。龙本无从目见，诗人索性不写龙，只写龙归之后半天忽雨；雨是实的，可听可触，于是那不可见的龙也仿佛可信了。『归』字下得从容，不是腾跃而是回还，暗示这道观所在正是龙的栖止之处，山灵与道院共居一境。『半天』二字尤有分量，既言雨来之高，又言雨势之未及全空，写出山中骤雨只湿半边天的实况，非泛语。与下句『虎啸一岩风』相对，一取高远、一取近迫，两个数量词把空间撑成立体，这是五言中最见气象的一种对法。

This line's beauty lies in avoiding the solid for the void. The dragon cannot be seen, so the poet simply does not write the dragon, only writes that after the dragon returns, rain suddenly falls in the mid-sky; rain is solid, audible and tangible, and so the invisible dragon seems believable. The word returns is laid on with ease, not a leap but a coming back, hinting that this very abode is the dragon's resting place, the mountain spirits and the Taoist cloister dwelling one realm. The two words mid-sky carry weight: they say the height from which the rain comes, and that the rain has not yet covered the whole sky, writing the actual state of a mountain squall wetting half the heaven, no vague phrase. Set against the next line the tiger roars and the gale rises from the crag, one taking the far height, one the near rush, the two measure-words propping the space into three dimensions, the most air-bearing parallel in five-character verse.

终期把藜杖，来伴白云翁。

At last I hope to take a thorn-wood staff and come keep company with the Old Man of White Clouds.

我终有一天要拄起藜杖，再来陪伴你这位与白云为侣的老人。

I shall at last take up my staff, and come to keep you company, old man of the white clouds.

结联由境入人，也由景入情。『终期』二字含两层意思：一是尚未能，二是必将至，把当下的宦身与将来的归意都交代了，比直说慕道更见真切。『把藜杖』是极具体的动作，一个『把』字使他日之约有了可摹的形象——不是乘车而来，是拄杖而来，身份先已换过。『白云翁』既是对主人的敬称，又借陶弘景答诏之意把主人与山中云气合为一体；『伴』字用得谦，不说访、不说从，只说作伴，把主客拉成平等的邻居。全诗至此从冷寂的山景转出一段温意，收得极妥帖。

The closing moves from realm to man, from scenery to feeling. The two words at last carry two meanings: first, not yet possible; second, must come, accounting at once for the present office and the future will to return, more true than a direct saying that one admires the Way. Taking up my staff is a most concrete motion; the word take gives the future appointment a renderable image - not coming by carriage, but leaning on a staff, the identity already changed. The old man of the white clouds is at once an honorific for the host and, borrowing Tao Hongjing's answer to the edict, fuses the host with the mountain cloud-breath. The word accompany is used with modesty: not visit, not follow, only keep company, drawing host and guest into equal neighbors. By now the poem turns from the cold still mountain scenery to a thread of warmth, closing most fittingly.

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Word focus

冷 In 'the old dwelling's air is cold,' leng does not mean temperature but the clear stillness accumulated by a long-unvisited old house; it sets the cold, secluded tone for the whole poem and suits the Daoist pure-and-empty ethos. 『古屋气象冷』的『冷』字是全诗的调音键。它不指气温，而指一所旧屋长年少人所积的清寂之气，属于感觉的判断而非物理的描述。放在五言首句的句末，位置最重，一落下来便把后面的苍崖烟翠、龙雨虎风统统笼在寒峭的色调里，连颈联的紫红二色也只成了冷境中的两点暖，不至于翻成艳丽。若换『寂』字，偏于无声；换『静』字，偏于安稳；唯『冷』字兼有触感与心感，且与道家清虚的门风相合。一字定境，其余七句只须顺势展开，这是五律起句用力的好例。

归 In 'the dragon returns and rain fills half the sky,' gui (return) makes the dragon treat this mountain as home, turning the mountain spirit and the abbey into intimate, lasting neighbors, and quietly echoes the earlier 'within' (zhong). 『龙归半天雨』的『归』字，是这一联能立住的关键。若作『起』『腾』『飞』，皆写龙之出动，气势虽壮而与山中道观无涉；用『归』，则龙以此地为家，出而必返，山灵与道院的关系一下变得亲近而恒久。它也悄悄接住了首联的『中』字：屋在山中，龙归山中，人与灵物同处一境。此外，『归』为平声，语气舒缓，与下句『啸』字的斩截形成声音上的对照——一舒一厉，正合雨与风的性情。用一个最寻常的字造出最不寻常的关系，正是宋人炼字不喜奇怪的路数。

把 In 'at last I hope to take a thorn-wood staff,' ba (take/hold) turns a promise into a visible gesture; plain and casual, it signals the speaker's shift from official to hermit, grounding the future pledge in a staff and a path. 『终期把藜杖』的『把』字，把一句许诺变成了一个可见的姿态。它是握、执之意，动作朴拙，与藜茎之杖的粗简相配；不用『携』『拄』而用『把』，语感更近口语，也更见随意自得，仿佛他日来时的神情已在眼前。这个字还起着身份转换的作用：手中所把不是符节印绶，而是山人之杖，官身与隐者在一字之间掉换了行头。置于全篇最后一联，它使『终期』的空诺落到实处——所期者非虚境，而是一根杖、一条山路、一个可以作伴的老人。