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唐 Tang · 诗 Poem

后游

A Second Visit

杜甫

Du Fu

寺忆曾游处，桥怜再渡时。
江山如有待，花柳更无私。
野润烟光薄，沙暄日色迟。
客愁全为减，舍此复何之。

I remember the temple where I once wandered,
And love the bridge I now cross again.
The mountains and rivers seem to be waiting for me,
And flowers and willows share themselves with everyone.
The fields are moist, the misty light is thin,
The sands are warm, the sunlight lingers late.
All the sorrow of the wanderer is lessened —
If I leave this place, where else could I go?
Listen

Meaning

Revisiting a riverside temple and its bridge, Du Fu feels the landscape itself welcome him back: hills and streams seem to expect his return, flowers and willows give their beauty freely to all. In the soft spring light his exile's sorrows dissolve, and the poem ends with a rhetorical question — if he left this place, where else could he go? — turning gratitude to the scenery into a declaration that only here has he felt at home.

寺忆曾游处，桥怜再渡时。江山如有待，花柳更无私。野润烟光薄，沙暄日色迟。客愁全为减，舍此复何之。

Appreciation

[Plain Paraphrase] I recall the temple I once visited and the bridge I now cross again; the hills and streams seem to await me, and flowers and willows bestow their beauty on everyone. The damp fields thin the misty light, the warm sand delays the sun; all a traveler's sorrow is reduced, and leaving this place would leave nowhere to go. [Imagery] The poem personifies nature: the hills and rivers 'seem to wait' and the flowers and willows are 'selfless,' so the landscape behaves like a host and a giver. The 'thin misty light' and 'lingering sunlight' then translate that welcome into pure sensation. [Structure] The first couplet recalls the past visit, the second and third couplets unfold the present scene, and the final couplet turns to the poet's own heart — a progression from memory to landscape to emotion. [Theme] Nature's apparent generosity heals the wanderer; the closing question makes the landscape a chosen home rather than a mere stop.

【白话串讲】 杜甫写《后游》：“寺忆曾游处，桥怜再渡时”——“江山如有待，花柳更无私”——“野润烟光薄，沙暄日色迟”——“客愁全为减，舍此复何之”——他再游——江山如有待。 【意象与手法】 “寺忆曾游处，桥怜再渡时”写曾游再渡；“江山如有待，花柳更无私”写江山有待；“野润烟光薄，沙暄日色迟”写野润沙暄；结以“客愁全为减，舍此复何之”写客愁减。明丽纪游。 【情感与主旨】 杜甫再游之作，写江山有待、花柳无私的自然之美与客愁为之减的欣慰，是杜甫纪游诗中的名篇。 【名句点睛】 常考“江山如有待，花柳更无私”写江山有待；“野润烟光薄，沙暄日色迟”写野润沙暄。

Background

Du Fu (712–770), courtesy name Zimei, is China's greatest poet. This poem belongs to his Chengdu period, when, having escaped the An Lushan Rebellion, he lived in his thatched cottage outside the city (from 760) and wandered the rivers and bridges of the surrounding countryside. The title 'A Second Visit' implies an earlier, now lost poem about the same place. Written in the poet's early fifties, the poem records a rare moment of contentment in a life otherwise marked by exile, poverty, and failed ambition — a contentment he would soon lose again when he was driven from Chengdu. Its serenity is therefore doubly precious to readers who know the biography behind it.

《后游》为唐代诗人杜甫所作诗。杜甫（712—770），字子美，号少陵野老，巩县人，唐代诗人。此诗写纪游写景，为再游之作。诗中「寺忆曾游处，桥怜再渡时」写寺忆曾游处，桥怜再渡时；「江山如有待，花柳更无私」写江山如有待，花柳更无私；「野润烟光薄，沙暄日色迟」写野润烟光薄，沙暄日色迟；「客愁全为减，舍此复何之」写客愁全为减，舍此复何之。杜甫此诗以纪游写景、客愁全为减写其写景之情，明丽纪游，是杜甫诗中的名篇。此篇《后游》在历代选本中多被收录，其艺术价值与流传之广，正可见此诗在同类题材中的重要地位。诗人以匠心独运之笔写寻常之情事，遂使此作历千载而犹有生气，为后人所称赏不绝。此篇《后游》在历代选本中多被收录，其艺术价值与流传之广，正可见此诗在同类题材中的重要地位。诗人以匠心独运之笔写寻常之情事，遂使此作历千载而犹有生气，为后人所称赏不绝。

Art

The poem's central achievement is the personification in its second couplet: the hills and rivers 'seem to wait' for him, and the flowers and willows are 'selfless' — nature endowed with intention and generosity. This is no idle conceit; it explains the final couplet, in which a lifetime's sorrow is 'wholly lessened' by a landscape that seems to want him. Du Fu balances this emotional turn with careful sensory detail: 'moist fields' and 'thin misty light,' 'warm sand' and 'lingering sun' — cool and warm, dim and bright, arranged in strict parallel couplets so that the physical scene is as ordered as the emotion it produces. The closing rhetorical question is a characteristic Du Fu turn: the plainest possible language carrying the heaviest personal weight.

此诗艺术上以「明丽纪游、以游写情」见长。全诗共八句四联，由寺忆曾游处而江山如有待而野润烟光薄。起「寺忆曾游处，桥怜再渡时」写寺忆曾游处：寺忆曾游处，桥怜再渡时；「江山如有待，花柳更无私」写江山如有待：江山如有待，花柳更无私；「野润烟光薄，沙暄日色迟」写野润烟光薄：野润烟光薄，沙暄日色迟；结「客愁全为减，舍此复何之」写客愁全为减：客愁全为减，舍此复何之。全诗以游写情，由寺忆曾游处而客愁全为减，明丽纪游，是杜甫诗中的名篇。通篇以少总多之法出之，章法严谨而用意深曲，意象凝练而情韵悠长，读之愈久，愈觉其构思之精与笔力之健，堪称同类诗作中不可多得之佳篇，足见诗人炉火纯青的艺术功力。通篇以少总多之法出之，章法严谨而用意深曲，意象凝练而情韵悠长，读之愈久，愈觉其构思之精与笔力之健，堪称同类诗作中不可多得之佳篇，足见诗人炉火纯青的艺术功力。

Allusions

The poem works through classical imagery rather than specific literary citations. The 'hills and rivers' that 'seem to wait' echo a long tradition in which nature appears to greet or detain the traveler; the 'selfless' flowers and willows extend the Confucian ideal of generosity to the natural world. 'Traveler's sorrow' (ke chou) is the standard burden of the wandering exile, a theme running through Du Fu's work and through all frontier-and-exile poetry. The 'misty light' of damp fields and the 'lingering' sunlight of warm sand belong to the vocabulary of spring landscape verse. The poem thus assembles familiar materials, but the precision of its parallel couplets and the plainness of its closing question make them new.

诗中「寺忆曾游处桥怜再渡时」「江山如有待花柳更无私」「野润烟光薄沙暄日色迟」「客愁全为减舍此复何之」等语，皆含典故故实。「寺忆曾游处桥怜再渡时」写寺忆曾游处桥怜再渡时；「江山如有待花柳更无私」写江山如有待花柳更无私；「野润烟光薄沙暄日色迟」写野润烟光薄沙暄日色迟；「客愁全为减舍此复何之」写客愁全为减舍此复何之。诗人以江山、花柳等语入诗，不着痕迹，而把纪游写景之情写得真切可感，是善于熔铸典故的体现。此等用典之法，熔铸古今而不着痕迹，既不炫博以示学，亦不拘泥于旧解，正见诗人学养之深与运思之巧。读者于此等处尤当细心玩味，方能领会其言外之旨与味外之味。此等用典之法，熔铸古今而不着痕迹，既不炫博以示学，亦不拘泥于旧解，正见诗人学养之深与运思之巧。读者于此等处尤当细心玩味，方能领会其言外之旨与味外之味。

Commentary

Critics have especially prized the couplet 'the hills and rivers seem to wait for me; flowers and willows are even more selfless.' Readers of Tang poetry have long remarked that nature in Du Fu's hands acquires moral character — here, the courtesy of a host and the generosity of a giver — and that this personification is the mechanism by which the poem's final healing occurs. The closing question 'if I leave this place, where else could I go?' is often quoted as the most direct statement of attachment to place in Du Fu's quieter verse. Read against the poems of hunger and displacement that surround it in his biography, 'A Second Visit' shows the same hand at its gentlest.

这首《后游》，是杜甫写纪游写景之作，写寺忆曾游处、江山如有待、野润烟光薄、客愁全为减之情，明丽纪游。起「寺忆曾游处，桥怜再渡时」——寺忆曾游处，桥怜再渡时。写寺忆曾游处：寺忆曾游处、桥怜再渡时——曾游处、再渡时；「江山如有待，花柳更无私」——江山如有待，花柳更无私。写江山如有待：江山如有待、花柳更无私——如有待、更无私；「野润烟光薄，沙暄日色迟」——野润烟光薄，沙暄日色迟。写野润烟光薄：野润烟光薄、沙暄日色迟——烟光薄、日色迟；结「客愁全为减，舍此复何之」——客愁全为减，舍此复何之。写客愁全为减：客愁全为减、舍此复何之——全为减、复何之。这「客愁全为减，舍此复何之」，是全诗之结：以客愁全为减写其写景。全诗明丽纪游，以游写情，正是杜甫诗中的名篇。综观全诗，情真、景切、理深，三者浑融无迹，故能于短短数语之中寄无限深意，令人百读不厌。其含蓄蕴藉之处，正是中国古典诗歌以少总多、言有尽而意无穷的美学精神的生动体现。

Prosody

Form Poem: five-character regulated verse (wulü), eight lines in four couplets诗（五言律诗）
Rhyme The poem rhymes on shi ('time'), si ('selfless'), chi ('late'), and zhi ('go') — all level-tone words of the zhi rhyme group (the fourth of the thirty-one pingshui categories). The even, gentle tone of this rhyme group suits the poem's mood of tranquil contentment.此诗为五言律诗，共八句四联。押韵：「时」「私」「迟」「之」押支部韵。平仄相间，对仗工整，正与写纪游写景的明丽纪游相称，也见其以律诗写纪游的凝练。
Tone pattern The poem observes the regulated-verse rules of tonal alternation and parallelism: the middle couplets ('hills and rivers... flowers and willows' and 'moist fields... warm sand') are strictly parallel in grammar and in tonal contrast. Its rhythm is notably calm — long vowels, soft endings, no jarring entering tones — so the verse itself seems to breathe slowly, like the lingering afternoon it describes.句式上，「寺忆曾游处，桥怜再渡时」写寺忆曾游处，音节明丽；「江山如有待，花柳更无私」写江山如有待，音节悠长；「野润烟光薄，沙暄日色迟」写野润烟光薄，音节清丽；结「客愁全为减，舍此复何之」写客愁全为减，音节低回。全诗音节随情起伏，由明丽而悠长、由清丽而低回，正合律诗「凝练」之妙，读来如纪游写景、客愁全为减之音，明丽而动人。
Reading note As a five-character regulated poem, 'A Second Visit' shows Du Fu's mastery of the form at its most relaxed: the parallel couplets are impeccable, yet nothing feels mechanical, because each parallel pair also advances the emotion. The progression from memory to landscape to feeling is the classic arc of the 'visit poem,' and the final rhetorical question is a Du Fu signature — the grandest of poets writing in the plainest voice. Its serenity belongs to the brief Chengdu idyll, which makes it one of the most precious of his middle-period poems.此诗为五言律诗，是杜甫写纪游写景之作，也是其诗中的名篇。全诗的艺术特色在于「明丽纪游、以游写情」：「寺忆曾游处，桥怜再渡时」写寺忆曾游处、「江山如有待，花柳更无私」写江山如有待、「野润烟光薄，沙暄日色迟」写野润烟光薄、「客愁全为减，舍此复何之」写客愁全为减。全诗明丽纪游，以游写情。尤为精妙者，是「江山如有待」写尽如有待；而「客愁全为减」写尽全为减，正是杜甫诗「明丽纪游」的典范，为历代选本所常收。《后游》一诗之所以读来声情并茂，正在于诗人以声韵配合情思、以节奏烘托意境，音节之长短、平仄之起伏，皆与诗意相为表里，此亦可见中国古典诗歌声律之美与匠心之工。

Line by line

寺忆曾游处，桥怜再渡时。

I remember the temple where I once wandered, and love the bridge I now cross again.

寺忆曾游处，桥怜再渡时。

The temple remembers my former visit; the bridge is kind at my second crossing.

起句写寺忆曾游处，起笔即见其曾游处。「寺忆曾游处」写寺忆曾游处，「寺忆」写寺忆、「曾游处」写曾游处；「桥怜再渡时」写桥怜再渡时，「桥怜」写桥怜、「再渡时」写再渡时。一句写寺忆曾游处桥怜再渡时，以寺忆曾游处写曾游处、以桥怜再渡时写再渡时，写尽寺忆曾游处、桥怜再渡时之情。以寺起兴，明丽而纪游，是「以寺起兴」的妙笔。

The opening line writes that the temple remembers his former visit, the bridge is kind at his second crossing; rising through the temple, it is bright and commemorative, the start of the revisit.

江山如有待，花柳更无私。

The hills and rivers seem to be waiting for me; flowers and willows are even more selfless.

江山如有待，花柳更无私。

River and hills seem to await me; flowers and willows ask no partiality.

此句写江山如有待，是全诗写江山之态的关键。「江山如有待」写江山如有待，「江山」写江山、「如有待」写如有待；「花柳更无私」写花柳更无私，「花柳」写花柳、「更无私」写更无私。一句写江山如有待花柳更无私，以江山如有待写如有待、以花柳更无私写更无私，写尽江山如有待、花柳更无私之情。以山写情，明丽而纪游，是「以山写情」的点睛之笔。

This line writes that river and hills seem to await him, flowers and willows show no partiality; through the hills it writes the feeling of nature welcoming the returning traveler, the key image.

野润烟光薄，沙暄日色迟。

The fields are moist, the misty light is thin; the sands are warm, the sunlight lingers late.

野润烟光薄，沙暄日色迟。

The wilds are fresh, the haze thin; the sands warm, the sunlight slow.

此句写野润烟光薄，是全诗写烟光之态的关键。「野润烟光薄」写野润烟光薄，「野润」写野润、「烟光薄」写烟光薄；「沙暄日色迟」写沙暄日色迟，「沙暄」写沙暄、「日色迟」写日色迟。一句写野润烟光薄沙暄日色迟，以野润烟光薄写烟光薄、以沙暄日色迟写日色迟，写尽野润烟光薄、沙暄日色迟之情。以烟写景，明丽而纪游，是「以烟写景」的点睛之笔。

This line writes the fresh wilds and thin haze, the warm sands and slow sunlight; through the haze it renders the gentle, late-afternoon light of the revisited scene.

客愁全为减，舍此复何之。

All a traveler's sorrow is wholly lessened; if I leave this place, where else could I go?

客愁全为减，舍此复何之。

A wanderer's sorrow is wholly lightened; but for this, where else would I go?

结句写客愁全为减，是全诗立意的落点。「客愁全为减」写客愁全为减，「客愁」写客愁、「全为减」写全为减；「舍此复何之」写舍此复何之，「舍此」写舍此、「复何之」写复何之。一句写客愁全为减舍此复何之，以客愁全为减写全为减、以舍此复何之写复何之，写尽客愁全为减、舍此复何之之情。以愁写情，明丽而纪游，是全诗最动人处，也是「以愁写情」的点睛之笔。

The closing line writes that a wanderer's sorrow is wholly lightened, and asks where else he would go; ending on the question, it is the poem's landing — nature's welcome dissolves his exile's grief.

Study

Word focus

曾游 'Once visited': marks the first, remembered visit; with 'recall' it sets the poem's structure of then and now, and lends the return the warmth of an old friendship rather than a first discovery. 「曾游」写寺忆曾游处，是写曾游之态的关键。「寺忆曾游处」着一「曾游」，写曾游——着一「曾游」，写寺忆曾游处，见其游之曾。两字写尽曾游之态，是「以词写游」的妙笔。「曾游」一字之用而全篇生色，与诗中情韵相为表里，正见诗人炼字之精与匠心之独运。读者于此等处若细细体会，自能领会其于平淡之中见功力、于寻常处见神奇之妙。
江山 'Hills and rivers': the classical synecdoche for the land itself; here personified as a host that 'seems to wait,' which is the hinge of the poem's argument that nature welcomes the returning exile. 「江山」写江山如有待，是写江山之态的关键。「江山如有待」着一「江山」，写江山——着一「江山」，写江山如有待，见其山之江。两字写尽江山之态，是「以词写江」的点睛之词。「江山」一字之用而全篇生色，与诗中情韵相为表里，正见诗人炼字之精与匠心之独运。读者于此等处若细细体会，自能领会其于平淡之中见功力、于寻常处见神奇之妙。
烟光 'Misty light': the soft, veiled glow of spring haze over damp fields; a stock landscape phrase given freshness by 'thin,' which makes the light itself feel delicate and translucent. 「烟光」写野润烟光薄，是写烟光之态的关键。「野润烟光薄」着一「烟光」，写烟光——着一「烟光」，写野润烟光薄，见其光之烟。两字写尽烟光之态，是「以词写光」的点睛之词。「烟光」一字之用而全篇生色，与诗中情韵相为表里，正见诗人炼字之精与匠心之独运。读者于此等处若细细体会，自能领会其于平淡之中见功力、于寻常处见神奇之妙。
客愁 'Traveler's sorrow': the conventional sorrow of the wanderer far from home; its total lessening is the poem's emotional climax and proof of the landscape's healing power. 「客愁」写客愁全为减，是写客愁之态的关键。「客愁全为减」着一「客愁」，写客愁——着一「客愁」，写客愁全为减，见其愁之客。两字写尽客愁之态，是「以词写愁」的点睛之词。「客愁」一字之用而全篇生色，与诗中情韵相为表里，正见诗人炼字之精与匠心之独运。读者于此等处若细细体会，自能领会其于平淡之中见功力、于寻常处见神奇之妙。

Related Reading

水调歌头·明月几时有 Prelude to Water Melody ('How long will the full moon appear?') 苏轼 · 同写纪游感怀、明丽旷达，一写人有悲欢离合、一写寺忆曾游处桥怜再渡时，皆于纪游之中见明丽 Both write reflective reunion with time and place with bright, philosophical breadth — one through parting and reunion, one through a temple revisited.

Su Shi's lyric turns on 'men have sorrow and joy, parting and reunion, just as the moon is dark and bright, full and wan,' resolving human feeling through philosophical acceptance; Du Fu's poem resolves it through a landscape that seems to welcome him back. Where Su Shi reasons, Du Fu feels — and both make the reader understand how art transforms loss into acceptance.

苏轼《水调歌头·明月几时有》「人有悲欢离合，月有阴晴圆缺，此事古难全」，写纪游感怀、明丽旷达，是宋词长调的名篇；杜甫《后游》则以「寺忆曾游处，桥怜再渡时」「客愁全为减」写再渡时、全为减。两诗同写纪游感怀、明丽旷达：一写人有悲欢离合、以悲欢写离合，一写寺忆曾游处桥怜再渡时、以曾游写纪游；一为苏轼之旷达、一为杜甫之明丽，并读正可见诗写「纪游感怀」的两种笔法，皆于纪游之中见明丽。

 八声甘州·对潇潇暮雨洒江天 Eight Beats of the Ganzhou Melody ('Facing the drizzling evening rain that sprinkles the sky') 柳永 · 同写江山凝望、明丽清丽，一写对潇潇暮雨洒江天、一写寺忆曾游处桥怜再渡时，皆于江山之中见凝望 Both gaze at rivers and hills from a traveler's standpoint with clear, quiet coloring — one melancholy and drifting, one content and at home.

Liu Yong's lyric fixes its gaze on the autumn river with the sorrow of a man who cannot go home; Du Fu's poem fixes its gaze on a spring temple whose scenery says 'stay.' The same river-and-hill imagery carries opposite emotions, showing how the classical landscape absorbs whatever mood the poet brings to it.

柳永《八声甘州·对潇潇暮雨洒江天》「对潇潇暮雨洒江天，一番洗清秋」，写江山凝望、明丽清丽，是宋词写羁旅的名篇；杜甫《后游》则以「寺忆曾游处，桥怜再渡时」「江山如有待」写再渡时、如有待。两诗同写江山凝望、明丽清丽：一写对潇潇暮雨洒江天、以暮雨写清秋，一写寺忆曾游处桥怜再渡时、以曾游写纪游；一为柳永之清丽、一为杜甫之明丽，并读正可见诗写「江山凝望」的两种笔法，皆于江山之中见凝望。