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唐 Tang · 诗 Poem

淮上喜会梁川故人

A Joyful Reunion on the Huai with an Old Friend from Liangchuan

韦应物

Wei Yingwu

江汉曾为客相逢每醉还浮云一别后流水十年间欢笑情如旧萧疎鬓已斑何因北归去淮上对秋山

I once sojourned by the Jiang and Han,
And every time we met we ended the day drunk.
Since we parted like floating clouds,
Ten years have flowed away like water.
We laugh together as warmly as ever,
But our sparse temples have turned gray.
Why should I set off north for home?
Here on the Huai I face the autumn hills.
Listen

Meaning

Meeting an old friend on the banks of the Huai after ten years, the poet recalls their youthful days by the Jiang and Han, when every meeting ended in drunken cheer. The decade between them has passed like floating clouds scattered and flowing water gone; now their laughter is unchanged, though their hair is graying. The closing question turns the reunion itself into a reason to linger: facing the autumn hills of the Huai is better than going home.

江汉曾为客相逢每醉还浮云一别后流水十年间欢笑情如旧萧疎鬓已斑何因北归去淮上对秋山

Appreciation

[Plain Paraphrase] We once sojourned by the Jiang and Han, drunk at every meeting; since we parted like floating clouds, ten years have flowed by like water. Our laughter is as warm as ever, but our sparse hair has grayed. Why go north for home? Here on the Huai I face the autumn hills. [Imagery] 'Floating clouds' and 'flowing water' are the poem's twin images: one for the friends' scattering, one for the years' passing. The 'autumn hills' of the close convert reunion into a landscape of calm. [Structure] The poem moves from the shared past to the measure of ten years, to the present moment of recognition (laughing unchanged, hair grown gray), and finally to a question that answers itself in scenery. [Theme] Friendship survives time, but time cannot be undone; the consolation is presence — two old friends facing the same hills.

【白话串讲】 韦应物写《淮上喜会梁川故人》：“江汉曾为客，相逢每醉还”——“浮云一别后，流水十年间”——“欢笑情如旧，萧疎鬓已斑”——“何因北归去，淮上对秋山”——他与故人重逢——浮云一别后，流水十年间。 【意象与手法】 “江汉曾为客，相逢每醉还”写江汉为客；“浮云一别后，流水十年间”以浮云流水写别后十年；“欢笑情如旧，萧疎鬓已斑”写欢笑如旧鬓已斑；结以“何因北归去，淮上对秋山”写淮上对秋山。情真喜会。 【情感与主旨】 韦应物与故人重逢之作，写久别重逢、欢笑如旧而鬓发已斑的感慨，是写故人重逢的名篇。 【名句点睛】 常考“浮云一别后，流水十年间”以浮云流水写别后光阴；“欢笑情如旧，萧疎鬓已斑”写重逢之喜与岁月之悲。

Background

Wei Yingwu (737–792) was a native of Chang'an and one of the most individual voices of the mid-Tang. Born into an aristocratic family, he spent a wild youth (legend says he served as an imperial guardsman) before turning to study and a career of provincial governorships — Chuzhou, Jiangzhou, and finally Suzhou, from which he is known as Wei Suzhou. His poetry, famed for its clear elegance and tranquil distance, is ranked with Wang Wei's and Meng Haoran's. This poem belongs to his wandering years on the Huai, where a chance reunion with an old friend from the Liang region (modern Hanzhong, Shaanxi) prompted a meditation on ten years of drifting. Written in the generations after the An Lushan Rebellion, it carries the quieter, sadder accent of men whose lives had been scattered by the dynasty's collapse.

《淮上喜会梁川故人》为唐代诗人韦应物所作诗。韦应物（737—792），京兆长安人，唐代诗人。此诗写喜会故人，为淮上之作。诗中「江汉曾为客相逢每醉还」写江汉曾为客相逢每醉还；「浮云一别后流水十年间」写浮云一别后流水十年间；「欢笑情如旧萧疎鬓已斑」写欢笑情如旧萧疎鬓已斑；「何因北归去淮上对秋山」写何因北归去淮上对秋山。韦应物此诗以喜会故人、淮上对秋山写其故人之情，情真喜会，是韦应物诗中的名篇。此篇《淮上喜会梁川故人》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《淮上喜会梁川故人》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 technique is the pairing of two classical metaphors in one couplet: 'since we parted like floating clouds, ten years have flowed away like water.' Clouds scatter; water runs on. In ten characters the poem measures both the friends' dispersal and the years' passage, and by declining to describe the decade's events it makes them feel vast. The next couplet then lands in the physical present: 'we laugh together as warmly as ever, but our sparse temples have turned gray.' The contrast of 'as ever' with 'already gray' is the emotional center — friendship unchanged, bodies altered. The close, 'why should I set off north for home? Here on the Huai I face the autumn hills,' uses the rhetorical question and landscape answer perfected by Wei's contemporaries, ending the poem not in lament but in a tranquil, slightly rueful acceptance.

此诗艺术上以「情真喜会、以逢写情」见长。全诗共八句四联，由江汉曾为客而浮云一别后而欢笑情如旧。起「江汉曾为客相逢每醉还」写江汉曾为客：江汉曾为客相逢每醉还；「浮云一别后流水十年间」写浮云一别后：浮云一别后流水十年间；「欢笑情如旧萧疎鬓已斑」写欢笑情如旧：欢笑情如旧萧疎鬓已斑；结「何因北归去淮上对秋山」写淮上对秋山：何因北归去淮上对秋山。全诗以逢写情，由江汉曾为客而淮上对秋山，情真喜会，是韦应物诗中的名篇。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

'Floating clouds' is one of the oldest images in Chinese poetry for the wanderer and for parting: it runs from the Han 'Nineteen Old Poems' ('floating clouds hide the white sun; the wanderer does not return') to Li Bai's 'floating clouds — a wanderer's thoughts.' 'Flowing water' for lost time descends from Confucius standing by a river ('what passes is just like this') and became a commonplace of reflective verse. 'Jiang and Han' (the Yangtze and Han rivers) stands for the central Yangtze region where the friends had sojourned. 'North' is the direction of home and of the capital. The poem's closing landscape, the autumn hills of the Huai, carries the melancholy dignity of autumn — the season of fading — without ever naming regret.

诗中「江汉曾为客相逢每醉还」「浮云一别后流水十年间」「欢笑情如旧萧疎鬓已斑」「何因北归去淮上对秋山」等语，皆含典故故实。「江汉曾为客相逢每醉还」用浮云之典（浮云写游子），写江汉曾为客相逢每醉还；「浮云一别后流水十年间」写浮云一别后流水十年间；「欢笑情如旧萧疎鬓已斑」写欢笑情如旧萧疎鬓已斑；「何因北归去淮上对秋山」写何因北归去淮上对秋山。诗人用浮云之典入诗，不着痕迹，而把喜会故人之情写得真切可感，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

Read alongside the other famous version of this poem (with the lines 'why not return? the Huai has its autumn hills'), this text has drawn attention for its closing variation: instead of 'why not return,' the poet asks 'why go north for home?', and answers with the Huai's autumn hills. Critics read the difference as one of tone — the more familiar version states the reason for staying with gentle simplicity, while this variant turns the question back on the very idea of home. Either way, the poem's power is in the couplet of clouds and water, which compresses a decade of separation into two images, and in the laughter-and-gray-hair couplet, which catches the whole pathos of reunion: everything the same, everything changed.

这首《淮上喜会梁川故人》，是韦应物写喜会故人之作，写江汉曾为客、浮云一别后、欢笑情如旧、淮上对秋山之情，情真喜会。起「江汉曾为客相逢每醉还」——江汉曾为客相逢每醉还。写江汉曾为客：江汉曾为客、相逢每醉还——曾为客、每醉还；「浮云一别后流水十年间」——浮云一别后流水十年间。写浮云一别后：浮云一别后、流水十年间——一别后、十年间；「欢笑情如旧萧疎鬓已斑」——欢笑情如旧萧疎鬓已斑。写欢笑情如旧：欢笑情如旧、萧疎鬓已斑——情如旧、鬓已斑；结「何因北归去淮上对秋山」——何因北归去淮上对秋山。写淮上对秋山：何因北归去、淮上对秋山——北归去、对秋山。这「何因北归去淮上对秋山」，是全诗之结：以淮上对秋山写其故人。全诗情真喜会，以逢写情，正是韦应物诗中的名篇。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 huan ('return'), jian ('between'), ban ('graying'), and shan ('hill') — all level-tone words of the shan rhyme group (the fifteenth of the thirty-one pingshui categories). Its broad, unhurried sounds suit a poem about reunion and the slow passage of years.此诗为五言律诗，共八句四联。押韵：「还」「间」「斑」「山」押删部韵。平仄相间，对仗工整，正与写喜会故人的情真喜会相称，也见其以律诗写故人的凝练。
Tone pattern As regulated verse, the poem observes tonal alternation and exact parallelism in its middle couplets: 'floating clouds' answers 'flowing water,' 'laughter as ever' answers 'temples already gray.' The movement is unhurried — past, measure of time, present recognition, closing question — and the final question slows the line to the pace of two old men talking.句式上，「江汉曾为客相逢每醉还」写江汉曾为客，音节情真；「浮云一别后流水十年间」写浮云一别后，音节悠长；「欢笑情如旧萧疎鬓已斑」写欢笑情如旧，音节低回；结「何因北归去淮上对秋山」写淮上对秋山，音节沉郁。全诗音节随情起伏，由情真而悠长、由低回而沉郁，正合律诗「凝练」之妙，读来如喜会故人、淮上对秋山之音，情真而动人。
Reading note This poem exists in two transmitted versions; the present text closes with 'why should I set off north for home? Here on the Huai I face the autumn hills,' while the better-known variant reads 'why not return? the Huai has its autumn hills.' Both use the same device of ending on a question answered by landscape. The poem is a prime example of Wei Yingwu's clear elegance and tranquil distance: its griefs are real but never raised in volume, and the famous cloud-and-water couplet shows how regulated verse can make five characters carry a decade.此诗为五言律诗，是韦应物写喜会故人之作，也是其诗中的名篇。全诗的艺术特色在于「情真喜会、以逢写情」：「江汉曾为客相逢每醉还」写江汉曾为客、「浮云一别后流水十年间」写浮云一别后、「欢笑情如旧萧疎鬓已斑」写欢笑情如旧、「何因北归去淮上对秋山」写淮上对秋山。全诗情真喜会，以逢写情。尤为精妙者，是「江汉曾为客」用浮云之典；而「淮上对秋山」写尽对秋山，正是韦应物诗「情真喜会」的典范，为历代选本所常收。《淮上喜会梁川故人》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

江汉曾为客相逢每醉还

I once sojourned by the Jiang and Han; every time we met we ended the day drunk.

江汉曾为客相逢每醉还

By the Yangzi and Han we once sojourned; whenever we met, we returned drunk.

起句写江汉曾为客，起笔即见其江汉。「江汉曾为客」用浮云之典写江汉曾为客，「江汉」写江汉、「曾为客」写曾为客；「相逢每醉还」写相逢每醉还，「相逢」写相逢、「每醉还」写每醉还。一句写江汉曾为客相逢每醉还，以江汉曾为客写曾为客、以相逢每醉还写每醉还，写尽江汉曾为客、相逢每醉还之情。以江起兴，情真而喜会，是「以江起兴」的妙笔。

The opening line writes that by the Yangzi and Han they once sojourned, and whenever they met they returned drunk; rising through the river, it is warm and glad, the start of the reunion.

浮云一别后流水十年间

Since we parted like floating clouds, ten years have flowed away like water.

浮云一别后流水十年间

Since that parting, like a floating cloud; ten years have flowed on, like running water.

此句写浮云一别后，是全诗写浮云之态的关键。「浮云一别后」写浮云一别后，「浮云」写浮云、「一别后」写一别后；「流水十年间」写流水十年间，「流水」写流水、「十年间」写十年间。一句写浮云一别后流水十年间，以浮云一别后写一别后、以流水十年间写十年间，写尽浮云一别后、流水十年间之情。以云写情，情真而喜会，是「以云写情」的点睛之笔。

This line writes that since the parting they have been like a floating cloud, and ten years have flowed like running water; through the cloud it writes the ten years of separation, the key image.

欢笑情如旧萧疎鬓已斑

We laugh together as warmly as ever, but our sparse temples have turned gray.

欢笑情如旧萧疎鬓已斑

We laugh as of old, our friendship unchanged; only our thinning temples are already streaked with gray.

此句写欢笑情如旧，是全诗写欢笑之态的关键。「欢笑情如旧」写欢笑情如旧，「欢笑」写欢笑、「情如旧」写情如旧；「萧疎鬓已斑」写萧疎鬓已斑，「萧疎」写萧疎、「鬓已斑」写鬓已斑。一句写欢笑情如旧萧疎鬓已斑，以欢笑情如旧写情如旧、以萧疎鬓已斑写鬓已斑，写尽欢笑情如旧、萧疎鬓已斑之情。以笑写情，情真而喜会，是「以笑写情」的点睛之笔。

This line writes that they laugh as of old, friendship unchanged, while thinning temples are already gray; through the laugh it writes the reunion's joy set against age, the emotional crux.

何因北归去淮上对秋山

Why should I set off north for home? Here on the Huai I face the autumn hills.

何因北归去淮上对秋山

Why have I not gone home? On the Huai, there are autumn hills to face.

结句写淮上对秋山，是全诗立意的落点。「何因北归去」写何因北归去，「何因」写何因、「北归去」写北归去；「淮上对秋山」写淮上对秋山，「淮上」写淮上、「对秋山」写对秋山。一句写何因北归去淮上对秋山，以何因北归去写北归去、以淮上对秋山写对秋山，写尽何因北归去、淮上对秋山之情。以山写情，情真而喜会，是全诗最动人处，也是「以山写情」的点睛之笔。

The closing line asks why he has not gone home, and answers that on the Huai there are autumn hills to face; ending on the hills, it is the poem's landing — the quiet reason for lingering.

Study

Word focus

江汉 'Jiang and Han': the Yangtze and Han rivers of the central Yangtze region; here a metonym for the friends' youthful sojourning, recalling a shared past far from where they now stand. 「江汉」写江汉曾为客，是写江汉之态的关键。「江汉曾为客」着一「江汉」，写江汉——着一「江汉」，写江汉曾为客，见其汉之江。两字写尽江汉之态，是「以词写汉」的妙笔。「江汉」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。
浮云 'Floating clouds': the classical image of the wanderer and of parting; it makes the friends' separation feel natural, aimless, and vast — clouds drift apart without volition, as the two men did. 「浮云」写浮云一别后，是写浮云之态的关键。「浮云一别后」着一「浮云」，写浮云——着一「浮云」，写浮云一别后，见其云之浮。两字写尽浮云之态，是「以词写云」的点睛之词。「浮云」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。
欢笑 'Laughter': the warm laughter of reunion; its being 'as warm as ever' is the poem's proof that friendship survives time, and the note against which the graying temples are heard. 「欢笑」写欢笑情如旧，是写欢笑之态的关键。「欢笑情如旧」着一「欢笑」，写欢笑——着一「欢笑」，写欢笑情如旧，见其笑之欢。两字写尽欢笑之态，是「以词写欢」的点睛之词。「欢笑」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。
秋山 'Autumn hills': the Huai's autumn landscape; it answers the question of why the poet stays, and its seasonal melancholy — the season of fading — colors the reunion with quiet, unspoken regret. 「秋山」写淮上对秋山，是写秋山之态的关键。「淮上对秋山」着一「秋山」，写秋山——着一「秋山」，写淮上对秋山，见其山之秋。两字写尽秋山之态，是「以词写山」的点睛之词。「秋山」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。

Related Reading

水调歌头·明月几时有 Prelude to Water Melody ('How long will the full moon appear?') 苏轼 · 同写喜会感怀、情真旷达，一写人有悲欢离合、一写江汉曾为客相逢每醉还，皆于喜会之中见情真 Both write reunion and parting with warm, philosophical breadth — one through philosophical acceptance, one through a friend's laughter.

Su Shi consoles himself with the principle that 'men have sorrow and joy, parting and reunion'; Wei Yingwu consoles himself with the presence of an old friend and the Huai's autumn hills. Su Shi looks up at the moon for consolation; Wei looks across a river at a familiar face. Both show how reunion literature moves from grief toward acceptance, by reason in one case and by friendship in the other.

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」，写喜会感怀、情真旷达，是宋词长调的名篇；韦应物《淮上喜会梁川故人》则以「江汉曾为客相逢每醉还」「淮上对秋山」写每醉还、对秋山。两诗同写喜会感怀、情真旷达：一写人有悲欢离合、以悲欢写离合，一写江汉曾为客相逢每醉还、以逢写喜会；一为苏轼之旷达、一为韦应物之情真，并读正可见诗写「喜会感怀」的两种笔法，皆于喜会之中见情真。

 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 · 同写淮上凝望、情真清丽，一写对潇潇暮雨洒江天、一写江汉曾为客相逢每醉还，皆于淮上之中见凝望 Both gaze on rivers and hills from a traveler's standpoint with clear, quiet coloring — one unable to go home, one unwilling to leave.

Liu Yong's wanderer longs for home and cannot return; Wei Yingwu's poet can return but prefers to stay with a friend among autumn hills. The same river-and-hill imagery yields opposite moods — homesickness against contentment — revealing how the classical landscape takes its color from the poet's heart.

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」，写淮上凝望、情真清丽，是宋词写羁旅的名篇；韦应物《淮上喜会梁川故人》则以「江汉曾为客相逢每醉还」「浮云一别后」写每醉还、一别后。两诗同写淮上凝望、情真清丽：一写对潇潇暮雨洒江天、以暮雨写清秋，一写江汉曾为客相逢每醉还、以逢写喜会；一为柳永之清丽、一为韦应物之情真，并读正可见诗写「淮上凝望」的两种笔法，皆于淮上之中见凝望。