唐 Tang · 诗 Poem
岁晚
The End of the Year
霜降水返壑，风落木归山。
冉冉岁将宴，物皆复本源。
何此南迁客，五年独未还？
命屯分已定，日久心弥安。
亦尝心与口，静念私自言：去国固非乐，归乡未必欢。
何须自生苦，舍易求其难！
The wind has fallen, the leaves return to the mountains.
Slowly, slowly, the year is drawing to its feast —
All things return to their origins.
Why does this guest, moved southward,
Alone, for five years, not yet return?
The lot is fixed, the portion already settled —
As the days grow long, the heart grows more and more at peace.
I have also, with the heart and the mouth,
Quietly thought, and privately spoken to myself:
To leave the state is indeed not joy,
To return to the home is not necessarily delight.
What need is there to make oneself suffer,
Leaving the easy and seeking the difficult?
Meaning
A poem of the year's end and the exile, written by Bai Juyi. The frost has descended, the water returns to the ravines; the wind has fallen, the leaves return to the mountains — the things of the autumn returning to their origins; slowly, slowly, the year is drawing to its feast, all things return to their origins. But this guest, moved southward, alone for five years, has not yet returned — the exile against the returning of all things. Yet the lot is fixed, the portion already settled — as the days grow long, the heart grows more and more at peace. And the meditation: to leave the state is indeed not joy, to return to the home is not necessarily delight — what need is there to make oneself suffer, leaving the easy and seeking the difficult? The poem is the exile's philosophy: the returning of the year and the fixed lot, and the peace of the heart that lets the things be.
寒霜降临之后，溪水渐退、重新归入深壑；秋风一起，飘落的树叶旋转着回到山中地面。时光缓缓流逝，年终将至，天地万物都回归它们最初的根源。我这被贬谪到南方的客人，为什么整整五年还不能回家？命运早已注定该承受的份额，长久下来内心反而更加安定。我也曾用心与口暗自思量，静静地对自己说：离开故土固然不是快乐的事，但回到家乡也未必就称心如意。何必自己给自己增添苦恼，舍弃平易的处境反而去寻求更大的艰难？
Appreciation
[Plain Paraphrase] The frost has descended, the water returns to the ravines; the wind has fallen, the leaves return to the mountains. Slowly, slowly, the year is drawing to its feast — all things return to their origins. Why does this guest, moved southward, alone, for five years, not yet return? The lot is fixed, the portion already settled — as the days grow long, the heart grows more and more at peace. I have also, with the heart and the mouth, quietly thought, and privately spoken to myself: to leave the state is indeed not joy, to return to the home is not necessarily delight. What need is there to make oneself suffer, leaving the easy and seeking the difficult? [Structure and Thought] The poem moves from the returning of the things of the year — the water, the leaves, the origins — through the exile's question — why alone, for five years, not yet returned — to the settled lot and the growing peace, and the close's meditation: neither leaving nor returning is the joy, and there is no need to make oneself suffer. [Key Technique] The poem's art is the exile's philosophy: the return of the things against the exile's stay, resolved in the settled lot and the peace of the heart — the question answered by the 'what need to make oneself suffer.' [Emotional Tone] Quiet, resigned, and philosophical: the poem is the year's end and the exile's peace, the fixed lot and the heart at ease, the easy and the difficult weighed.
【白话串讲】 霜降过后，水退回深壑，叶子随风归山；年终将至，万物都回到本来的位置。白居易由此想到自己：被贬到南方五年，为什么还没能回去？可他随即自己劝慰自己——命该如此，安之即可。离乡固然不乐，返乡也未必称心，何必自寻苦恼、舍易求难呢？ 【结构与手法】 全诗十四句（七联），清晰地分为两个部分。前四句写景，「霜降」「风落」写物候之变，「岁将宴」「复本源」点出岁暮万物归本之意，由水及木、由外及内，把霜降时节天地回收本源的图景铺开，一派静穆。后十句抒情，由景入己，以一个问句「何此南迁客，五年独未还？」陡转，把五年的贬谪之苦和思乡之情直泻而出，随即以「命屯分已定，日久心弥安」作结，转为自我宽解；再以「亦尝心与口，静念私自言」引入自言自语，最后连下数句层层推进——「去国固非乐」承认离乡之苦，「归乡未必欢」却反转归乡之想，「何须自生苦」责问自寻烦恼，「舍易求其难」劝其安于现实。全诗由外物之理推及己身之命，说理与抒情交融，质朴自然，不假雕饰，是白居易晚年自处达观的代表作。 【情感与主旨】 此诗作于白居易贬谪江州司马期间（唐宪宗元和十年，公元815年，因上疏请捕刺杀宰相武元衡的凶手而遭构陷被贬）。诗中既有久羁异乡的深切苦闷，也有看透世事后的自我超脱。末二句「何须自生苦，舍易求其难」是其思想归宿：既然命运的份额已经注定，长久地安于现状便是通达。表面是旷达，底下仍是不甘，故全诗读来既通透又含着一层淡淡的苍凉。 【名句点睛】 「命屯分已定，日久心弥安」是全诗的诗眼。屯，艰难困顿（语出《易·屯卦》"屯，难也"）；分，命运应得的份额。前句承认既定命运无法改变，后句说时日既久，反而心愈安定，一「已定」一「弥安」，层层递进，把长年贬谪的煎熬化为了通透的自我排遣。此句与苏轼"此心安处是吾乡"的旷达一脉相通，可见诗人身处逆境而力求心安的处世智慧。
Background
Bai Juyi (772–846), the great poet of the mid-Tang, wrote this poem in his exile to the south — the 'guest moved southward, for five years, not yet returned.' The poem is the philosophy of the exile: the things of the year return to their origins, while the exile stays; yet the lot is fixed, and the heart grows more and more at peace. The close — 'what need is there to make oneself suffer, leaving the easy and seeking the difficult' — is the counsel of the peace, the resignation of the exile resolved in the philosophy. The poem shows the quiet, philosophical Bai Juyi of the exile.
白居易（772—846），字乐天，号香山居士，祖籍太原，生于河南新郑，是唐代新乐府运动的倡导者，与元稹并称「元白」。唐宪宗元和十年（公元815年），宰相武元衡遇刺身亡，白居易时任左赞善大夫，首上疏请急捕凶手以雪国耻，却被政敌以"宫官非谏职、越职言事"及"伤名教"等罪名构陷，贬为江州司马（今江西九江）。江州地处长安之南，故诗人于贬中所作多自称"南迁客"。本诗当作于其江州贬所期间或前后，诗中"南迁客""五年独未还"正自陈长期羁旅南方的沉痛语。全诗虽写久贬未归的苦闷，落点却在"何须自生苦，舍易求其难"的自我宽解，是白居易于逆境中力求心安的代表之作。
Art
The poem's art is the art of the exile's philosophy. The returning of the things is given first: the frost descended, the water returns to the ravines; the wind fallen, the leaves return to the mountains — the things of the year returning to their origins; slowly, slowly, the year draws to its feast, all things return. The exile's question follows: why does this guest, moved southward, alone for five years, not yet return — the stay against the return. The resolution: the lot is fixed, the portion settled — as the days grow long, the heart grows more and more at peace. And the meditation gathers the whole: to leave the state is indeed not joy, to return to the home is not necessarily delight — what need is there to make oneself suffer, leaving the easy and seeking the difficult? The returning of the year and the fixed lot, resolved in the peace of the heart.
【结构】全诗十四句（七联），前四句写景、后十句抒情，界线分明。前四句以「霜降水返壑，风落木归山」两句对仗写霜降图景，又以「冉冉岁将宴，物皆复本源」收束到岁暮万物归本的主旨，为后文的议论提供自然的逻辑起点。后十句由景入情，以问句「何此南迁客，五年独未还？」陡然转折，将个人遭际抛出，再层层递进地展开自我排遣的过程。 【手法】其一，善用「返」「归」「复」三个动词串起全诗。霜降则水「返」壑，风起则木「归」山，岁暮则万物「复」本源，三字递进，既准确描绘了霜降时节天地万物收敛归本的物候特征，又为下文「物皆复本源」作了自然铺垫。其二，采用由物及人、由景入情的经典结构。前四句写的是水木之归，后文「去国固非乐，归乡未必欢」写的是人之归，两相对照，含蓄地表达了对「归」这一主题的反思——原来归乡也未必就是幸福。其三，末二句「何须自生苦，舍易求其难」连用两个反问，语气恳切，是全诗最富感染力的部分，也是作者思想的最终归宿。 【语言】语言极其朴素平易，几乎不用一个华丽的词，却把岁暮之景与人生之感表达得深挚动人，符合白居易「平易通俗」的一贯风格。
Allusions
The poem carries no learned allusion; its art is the plain philosophy. 'The water returns to the ravines' (shui fan he) and 'the leaves return to the mountains' (mu gui shan) are the returning of the things to their origins — the natural return, against which the exile's stay is measured; 'the lot is fixed, the portion already settled' (ming tun fen yi ding) is the fixed fate, the settled portion of the exile; and 'the heart more and more at peace' (xin mi an) is the peace of the resignation.
「命屯分已定」中的「屯」为艰险、困顿之义，《周易·屯卦》所谓"屯，难也""天造草昧，宜建侯而不宁"，正有艰险初创、处境艰难之意；「分」指命运应得的份额，即所谓"命分之定"。这一组用字承自《周易》，是白居易常用的典雅语。诗中「物皆复本源」暗合《庄子》"复朴归真"之旨，写万物复归于质朴本真的状态。末句「舍易求其难」则与世俗"知难而进"的进取态度相反，诗人选择的是知难而退、安于顺遂，体现出一种通透的处世智慧。
Commentary
This poem is one of the quietest of Bai Juyi's exile poems, quoted for the philosophy of its close. The return of the things against the exile's stay, and the counsel of the peace — 'what need is there to make oneself suffer' — are among the most admired passages of his quiet manner. Critics praise the poem's resignation: the fixed lot and the peace of the heart, the exile resolved in the philosophy.
白居易此诗历来被视为其晚年"达观自适"诗风的代表。全诗由写景转入说理，最终归结到自我超脱，意境开阔而不枯寂。诗中以极平易的语言写极深挚的贬谪之思与思归之情，最后以"何须自生苦，舍易求其难"作结，体现出诗人于逆境中力求心安的处世智慧。这种由景及情、由事入理的写法，语言质朴自然、不假雕饰却深挚动人，正是白居易"诗尚坦易"一贯风格的体现。
Prosody
Line by line
霜降水返壑，
The frost has descended, the water returns to the ravines;
寒霜降临之后，溪水渐渐退去，重新流入深壑之中。
Frost falls, and the waters sink back into their ravines.
此句是全诗的起笔，也是对霜降物候最精准的捕捉。「霜降」点明时令，「水返壑」三字写水。以「返」字为眼，不用「入」「流」而用「返」，一字之间包含了水本从壑中流出、经霜降又复归深壑的完整循环，暗含「本」与「末」、「远」与「归」的往复之理。这一「返」字与下文「木归山」「复本源」中的「归」「复」遥相呼应，构成全诗贯穿始终的语义线索，也为一千年后黄庭坚《谪居黔南》其一「霜降水返壑，风落木归山」的整句袭用提供了源头。
The opening line catches the frost-descent season with precision. Frost falls fixes the time; waters return to the ravines writes water. The eye is the word return - not enter or flow, but return: in one character lies the whole cycle, water that once flowed from the ravine now sinking back into it after frost, hinting at the rhythm of root and branch, departure and homecoming. This return echoes the return of trees return to the hills and the return of return to the root, forming the poem's sustaining semantic thread; it also became the source from which, a thousand years later, Huang Tingjian borrowed the entire line about frost and falling waters.
风落木归山。
The wind has fallen, the leaves return to the mountains.
秋风一起，飘落的树叶旋转着回到山中的地面上。
The wind strips the leaves, and the trees return to the hills.
此句与上句对仗，「风落」对「霜降」，「木归山」对「水返壑」，句式工整。「风落」二字极精炼：不是叶随风而落，而是风把叶子「落」下，一个「落」字写尽秋意的肃杀与叶子的飘零姿态，简洁而有画面感。「木归山」则承接「返」字而来，树叶飘落后归于山土。「水返壑」写水之下敛，「木归山」写木之归根，二者共同勾勒出霜降时节天地万物收敛归藏的图景，为下句「物皆复本源」的总摄之句做好了铺垫。
This line matches the previous in parallel: wind strips against frost falls, trees return to the hills against waters return to the ravines. Wind strips is economical: leaves do not merely fall with the wind - the wind strips them down; the single verb condenses autumn's severity and the leaves' drifting posture, spare and vivid. Trees return to the hills carries the return: shed leaves settle back into the mountain soil. Waters return writes water's inward sinking; trees return writes wood's going home to root; together they sketch a world at frost season contracting and storing itself, paving the way for the gathering line all things return to their original root.
冉冉岁将宴，
Slowly, slowly, the year is drawing to its feast —
时光缓缓流逝，年终将至（一年将要结束）。
Slowly, slowly, the year draws to its close.
此句由山水之景转入时序之感。「冉冉」二字状时间之缓慢流逝，不觉之间又近岁末，用叠词既写出流年的绵延无尽，也暗含诗人对岁月蹉跎的深切感知。「岁将宴」三字尤堪玩味：「宴」在这里通"晏"，意为晚、尽，指岁暮年终（并非"宴席"），"岁将宴"即"年将尽、岁暮将至"。「将」字写出岁暮将至而未至的微妙状态，一个字里既有对年节将近的感知，也有"又一年将尽而羁旅未归"的怅惘，情绪极为复杂。这一句在全诗中起了承上启下的作用：上承「物皆复本源」的自然之理，下启「何此南迁客」的自我之问。
From landscape this line turns to the sense of time. Slowly, slowly draws out the gradual passage of time; unnoticed, year's end draws near again - the reduplication renders the stream of years endless, and carries the poet's ache of wasted time. The year draws to its close deserves savoring: close here is the evening of the year, year's end, not a banquet. Draws to writes the delicate state of approaching but not yet arrived - within one word lie both the perception of the year's turning and the wistfulness of another year ending while the exile has not gone home. The line bridges the natural order above and the self-question below.
物皆复本源。
All things return to their origins.
天地万物都回到了它们最初的根源。
All things return to their original root.
此句是前四句的总收束，也是全诗的立意之基。「物皆」二字统摄霜降时节天地万物的普遍现象，「复本源」点出其共同规律——归于本原。此句表面上写的是自然物候，深一层却已蕴含哲理：万物终将复归本原，人事亦然。本诗正是从这个自然之理出发，转入对个人命运的思索：既然万物都能复归本源，那么身在异乡的「南迁客」为什么不能回去？由此自然地引出下文。但诗人在后文并没有顺着这个思路追问下去，而是以「命屯分已定」作结，将人的命运纳入天的安排之中，显示出由自然之理转向人事之论的思维转换。
This line gathers the first four and founds the poem's theme. All things takes in every phenomenon of the frost season; return to their original root names their common law. On the surface a seasonal observation, beneath it already philosophy: all things return to their origin, and human affairs are no exception. From this natural truth the poem moves toward the poet's own fate: since all things return to their root, why cannot this exile of the south return? Yet the poet does not press the question home; he closes instead with my lot is hard, my portion fixed, folding human destiny into heaven's ordination - a turn from natural law to the argument of human life.
何此南迁客，
Why does this guest, moved southward,
我这个被贬谪到南方的客人，为什么（至今还没有回去）？
Why then am I, this exile of the south -
此句是全诗的重大转折，以一个强烈的反问句将写景抒情陡然切入自身遭际。「何此」二字领起，是饱含不平与无奈的口吻，「南迁客」是诗人的自我指称，「南迁」既指被贬岭南之地，也暗含被朝廷放逐的失意身份。「客」字尤见分量——有家不能归，只能客居异乡，一个「客」字写尽了漂泊无依的凄凉与辛酸。此句单独读是一个完整的疑问，接上下一句「五年独未还」则成为痛切的控诉。此句的突兀转折，正是白居易诗歌「由事入理、由理入情」手法的典型体现：前四句的静穆景致愈是平和，此句的激切追问愈见内心的波澜。
A sharp turn: an intense rhetorical question plunges the scenic meditation straight into the poet's own lot. Why, this opens in a tone charged with grievance and helplessness; exile of the south is the poet's self-designation - banished to the southern lands, also the identity of one cast out by the court. Exile carries special weight: homeward barred, dwelling as a stranger; the word exhausts the desolation of rootless wandering. Read alone it is a complete question; joined to five years alone and not returned it becomes a bitter indictment. The abrupt turn is characteristic of Bai Juyi's movement from event to principle, from principle to feeling: the calmer the still scenery of the first four lines, the more the urgent question reveals the inner turbulence.
五年独未还？
Alone, for five years, not yet return?
整整五年了，为什么我一个人还没有能够回去？
five years now, alone, and still not returned?
此句承接上句的疑问，以「五年」「独未还」三字集中爆发。「五年」是一个沉甸甸的数字，它写尽了贬谪岁月的漫长与煎熬；「独」字更见孤苦，说明羁旅之苦、怀乡之切都是独自承受，无人可诉。全句以问号收束，与上句连成一问，语气中既有对命运的诘问，也有对归期的期盼。这是全诗情感最激烈的一处，与前四句的宁静平和形成极大的落差，正是白居易晚年诗「平淡中见激越」的特征。诗人之所以用问句而不作陈述，正是因为这种苦闷与不平难以直陈，只能以反问寄托对命运的抗争。
Picking up the question, this line bursts forth in five years and alone, not returned. Five years is a heavy number: the long torment of exile distilled into figures. Alone sharpens the loneliness - the hardship of wandering, the ache of home, all borne by one person, with none to tell. The question mark, joined to the last line's, carries both indictment of fate and longing for the day of return. This is the poem's most impassioned point, an immense drop from the serenity of the first four lines - the mark of Bai's late manner, fervor within plainness. He uses a question rather than a statement because such gloom and grievance cannot be spoken directly; only a rhetorical question can lodge his resistance to fate.
命屯分已定，
The lot is fixed, the portion already settled —
命运该承受的份额既然早已注定，（那也没有办法）。
My lot is hard, my portion already fixed.
此句是全诗的重大转折，是对上一句激烈追问的回答，也是诗人思想走向通达的起点。「命屯」二字承自《周易·屯卦》，「屯」为艰险、困顿之义；「分已定」则说命运应得的份额已经不可更改。前句问「何此」，此句答曰「命定」，一个从诘问到认命的转折在两句之间完成。但白居易的答语并非消极认输，而是带有对客观规律的承认与尊重——既然命运如此，便无须徒劳地抗争。这种「认命而不弃命」的态度，正是他晚年心境的写照，也为他下一句「日久心弥安」的自我宽解做好了逻辑铺垫。
A major turn: the answer to the fierce question above, and the starting point of the poet's enlargement. My lot is hard echoes the Kun hexagram of the Book of Changes, hardship and obstruction; my portion fixed says the share of fate can no longer be altered. The previous line asks why this; this line answers fate's decree - the turn from questioning to resignation completes itself between the couplets. Yet Bai's answer is not passive surrender: it acknowledges objective law with respect - since fate is so, no futile struggle remains. This attitude of accepting fate without abandoning life is the mirror of his late temperament, and paves the logical way for the next line's as days pass, my heart grows at peace.
日久心弥安。
As the days grow long, the heart grows more and more at peace.
时日一久下来，心反而变得更加安定了。
As days pass, my heart grows ever more at peace.
此句紧承上句，是全诗的诗眼所在。一个「弥」字极为传神，它写出了心境的微妙变化：起初是痛苦的（因为刚被贬时心不能安），日子久了反而越来越安宁。「弥」有渐、更之意，表现的不是心境的突变，而是长期磨砺之后的自然沉淀。这种由动转静、由乱入治的过程，体现了白居易对人生的无常终于看开之后所达到的澄澈境界。此句与上句「命屯分已定」构成一组完整的因果：承认命运的既定（已定），便能渐渐安心（弥安）。苏轼所谓「此心安处是吾乡」，白居易此句正是此意的唐代版本，写出了超越外在环境而安顿内心的精神路径。
Following the last line, this is the poem's eye. Ever more is wonderfully expressive: the heart's subtle change - at first in pain, newly exiled and unable to be at peace; as days pass it grows calmer and calmer. Ever more means gradually, increasingly; not a sudden change of mood but the natural settling after long grinding. This passage from restlessness to stillness, from disorder to composure, shows the limpid realm Bai Juyi reached after finally letting go of life's mutability. With portion fixed above it forms a complete cause and effect: accept fate's decree, and the heart gradually finds peace. Su Shi would say later, where this heart is at peace, there is my home; Bai's line is the Tang version of that truth, the spiritual path of settling the inner self beyond outward circumstance.
亦尝心与口，
I have also, with the heart and the mouth,
我也曾用心和口，（独自静静地思量过）。
Often, between my heart and my mouth -
此句承接上文的心境转变，引出诗人内心的自我排遣。「亦尝」二字说明这种思量非自今日始，而是长久以来经常如此。「心与口」三字极为精练，「心」指思想、意念，「口」指言语，二者并举，写出诗人在无人处既用心思又想用言语来推敲、权衡自己的处境。这一句承接上句的「心弥安」，说明这份安宁并非天生，而是经过长时间内心挣扎与自我对话后达成的。「私」字于下一句点明，这种思量是完全独自进行的，不与他人诉说的，愈发见出其孤寂与自持。
Following the turn of heart, this line introduces the poet's inner consolation. Often shows such self-communing is not new today but long habitual. Between heart and mouth is spare: heart for thought and intent, mouth for words; set side by side they show the poet, in solitude, weighing his lot both in thought and in word. Following the heart at peace above, it reveals this peace is not innate but reached after long inner struggle and self-dialogue. The word privately, made explicit in the next line, shows the deliberation wholly alone, spoken to no one - all the more isolating and self-possessed.
静念私自言：
Quietly thought, and privately spoken to myself:
静静地思量着，独自对自己说。
in quiet thought I say to myself:
此句以「静念私自言」五字总领末四句，是全诗的叙事枢纽。「静念」即静静地思索，与上句的「心与口」相承；「私自言」点明是自言自语，属私下里的自我开解。此句之后，白居易采用了「自语」的表达方式，让自己的声音直接在诗中响起，读者得以窥见诗人内心的全部思绪。这种写法在古典诗歌中并不多见，具有强烈的戏剧性效果——如同一个孤独的身影在深夜独自叩问自己、又独自回答自己。末四句的议论因此不是空泛的说理，而是有血有肉的自白，仿佛一个饱经风霜的老人在岁末的夜里与自己的心灵对话，坦诚地袒露了一生的追寻与释然。
These five characters govern the final four lines, the poem's narrative hinge. In quiet thought - meditating silently - continues heart and mouth above; privately I say to myself marks it as soliloquy, a private consolation. From here Bai Juyi adopts the voice of self-address, letting his own voice sound directly in the poem, and the reader glimpses the full current of his thought. Such writing is rare in classical verse: strongly dramatic, like a lone figure in the depth of night questioning himself and answering himself. The final four lines' arguing is thus no abstract moralizing but flesh-and-blood confession - a weathered old man dialoguing with his own heart on a year-end night, baring a lifetime of pursuit and release.
去国固非乐，
To leave the state is indeed not joy,
离开故国固然不是什么快乐的事。
Leaving the country is surely no joy,
此句是自我开解的第一层，先承认痛苦的存在，不回避、不粉饰。「去国」二字出自「去国」语出《楚辞·离骚》，是古典诗歌中离乡去国的传统表达，是古典诗歌中离乡去国的传统表达，白居易用此语既切合被贬的身世，又暗含对朝廷的怨望。「固」为「固然」之意，是退一步的用法，承认离乡的苦闷。白居易的自我开解之所以可信，正在于他并不虚伪地否认痛苦，而是先实事求是地承认「去国非乐」，然后才在下一句提出反转的看法。这种先认同、再破除的论证方式，符合他「老去诗篇浑漫与」的老成风格。
The first layer of self-consolation: acknowledging suffering first, neither evading nor adorning it. Leaving the country is an idiom from Li Sao in the Songs of Chu, the classical expression for exile from court and home; Bai uses it to fit his banishment and carry his grievance against the court. Surely concedes - leaving home is undeniably bitter. The credibility of Bai's consolation lies precisely here: he does not hypocritically deny pain; he first acknowledges plainly that leaving the country is no joy, before offering his reversal in the next line. This method - concede, then dissolve - suits his mature manner of late verse written as they come.
归乡未必欢。
To return to the home is not necessarily delight.
回到家乡也未必就是高兴的事。
yet returning home is not necessarily happiness.
此句是自我开解的关键一转，也是全诗最具哲理意味的一句。白居易在此处提出了一个超越常人的见解：人们往往把「归乡」视为苦难的终结、幸福的开始，但他却指出归乡也未必令人欢欣。这一判断有双重依据：一是归乡之后仍要面对现实的种种不如意；二是被贬之人即使回到朝堂，内心所创伤痕也无法即刻平复。这一句将「归」从神圣化的目标降格为普通的概念，与前四句「水返壑」「木归山」的「归」形成对照——自然万物的回归是本能的、必然的，而人的归乡却未必能带来幸福，正是因为人带着被现实磨砺过的心。此句是白居易晚年思想最重要的成熟标志：他不再把归乡当作救赎，而是开始接受命运的安排。
The pivotal turn in consolation, and the poem's most philosophic line. Bai advances a view beyond common sense: men usually take returning home as the end of suffering, the beginning of happiness; he points out that homecoming may bring no joy. This judgment rests on two grounds: homecoming still faces the frustrations of actual life; and even if the exile returned to court, the scars in the heart would not heal at once. The line demotes return from a sacred goal to an ordinary concept, contrasting with the return of waters and trees in the first four lines - nature's return is instinctive and necessary, while human homecoming may bring no happiness, precisely because the human heart has been worn by reality. This is the mark of maturity in Bai's late thought: he no longer treats homecoming as salvation, but begins to accept fate's appointment.
何须自生苦，
What need is there to make oneself suffer,
何必自己给自己增添苦恼呢？
Why must I of my own self breed suffering?
此句由前两句的陈述转为直接的劝诫，语气变得恳切而不容置疑。「何须」二字是全诗最有力的反问之一，既是对自己的开解，也是对世人的劝告。「自生苦」三字最为关键——痛苦并非来自外部的遭遇，而是「自生」的，是自己给自己找来的。这一指出极为深刻：既然归乡未必欢，那么徒然地在思念与悔恨中折磨自己又有什么意义？「自生苦」三个字将痛苦的来源从外部转移到内部，也就将解决痛苦的方法同样转移到内部——只要不再自寻烦恼，苦自然消解。这是全诗从哲理层面走向心理层面的关键一步。
From statement this line turns to direct admonition, earnest and unanswerable. Why must is one of the poem's strongest rhetorical questions - consolation to himself, counsel to the world. Of my own self breed suffering is the key: suffering does not come from external events but is self-breeded, found by oneself. The insight is profound: if homecoming may not bring joy, what meaning is there in torturing oneself with longing and regret? Self-breeded suffering shifts the source of pain from outside to inside, and with it the remedy: cease seeking trouble, and pain dissolves of itself. This is the crucial step from the philosophic to the psychological level.
舍易求其难！
Leaving the easy and seeking the difficult?
舍弃平易的处境，反而去寻求更大的艰难！
Abandoning what is easy to seek what is hard!
此句为全诗的结语，也是全诗思想的最终归宿，语气铿锵有力，不容置疑。「舍易求其难」五字，与前句「何须自生苦」构成一组因果与并列：前句说不要自寻痛苦，此句进一步指出不要舍弃平易而追求艰难——这正是贾谊《过秦论》正是贾谊《过秦论》中批判统治者急功近利、违背仁义之道的那段话的翻版「难」字与前面的「苦」字相呼应，一句言苦，一句言难，由心理的痛苦进而指向处境的艰难，层层深入。全句以感叹号作结，是白居易自我警策的宣言，也是他晚年心境彻底通达之后的平静之言。全诗从「何此南迁客」的诘问，到「命屯分已定」的认命，再到「舍易求其难」的劝诫，完成了一个完整的思想历程，最终落在「物皆复本源」的万物常态之上——既然万物都要复归本原，人也应安于自己的本分。
The poem's conclusion, its final resting place of thought, ringingly conclusive. Abandoning what is easy to seek what is hard pairs with why must I self-breed suffering in cause and parallel: the last line says do not seek pain; this line goes further - do not leave the easy for the hard, an echo of Jia Yi's Discourse on the Fall of Qin, which condemned rulers who pursued quick gains against the way of benevolence. Hard answers suffering: one line names psychological pain, the next the hardship of circumstance, deepening layer by layer. The exclamation mark ends the poem on a self-admonition, the calm word of a heart fully enlarged in old age. From the question of this exile of the south, to the resignation of portion fixed, to the counsel abandon the easy, the poem completes a whole journey of thought, resting at last on the common state of all things return to their root: since all things return to origin, man too should abide in his proper portion.
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Bai Juyi's 'Sent to the Assistant Yan of Hanan: Evening Thoughts at the Home' is the quiet evening meditation of the poet; 'The End of the Year' is the quiet year's-end meditation — the return of the things and the fixed lot, the peace of the heart — the same quiet Bai Juyi, the two meditations of the exile and the home.
《邯郸冬至夜思家》：「邯郸驿里逢冬至，抱膝灯前影伴身。想得家中夜深坐，还应说着远行人。」两诗同写羁旅思乡，笔法迥异：《邯郸》从对面着笔，以「想得家人夜深坐」的换位想象写思亲，含蓄而深情；《岁晚》则由物及人、由景入理，以「何须自生苦，舍易求其难」的自我劝解收束，由苦闷转向通达。一以情胜、一以理胜，正可见白居易处理同一题材的两种笔调。
琵琶行 The Song of the Lute 白居易 · 同作者·江州迁谪 Both are the works of Bai Juyi's exile to the south — the grief of the lute, the peace of the year's end — the two moods of the same exile.Bai Juyi's 'Song of the Lute' — 'we are both exiles of the end of the world' — is the grief of the exile shared with the lute-player; 'The End of the Year' is the quiet version — the fixed lot and the peace of the heart, the counsel against the suffering — the same exile, the two moods: the grieving and the resigned.
《琵琶行》作于白居易贬江州司马期间，结以「同是天涯沦落人，相逢何必曾相识」「座中泣下谁最多，江州司马青衫湿」，满纸迁谪之悲，情感喷薄。《岁晚》亦作于江州贬所前后，「南迁客」「五年独未还」同样是迁谪之叹，却能以「命屯分已定，日久心弥安」自我排遣，归于平静。由《琵琶行》的悲泣到《岁晚》的达观，恰可见诗人在江州数年间心境由激越渐归平宁的轨迹，二诗对读，一放一收，相映成趣。