现代 现代 · 诗 Poem
别丢掉
Don't Cast It Away
别丢掉这一把过往的热情，现在流水似的，轻轻在幽冷的山泉底，在黑夜，在松林，叹息似的渺茫，你仍要保存那真！
一样是月明，一样是隔山灯火，满天的星，只使人不见，梦似的挂起，你问黑夜要回那一句话——你仍得相信山谷中留着有那回音！
this handful of bygone passion;
now like flowing water,
gently
at the cold bottom of the mountain spring,
in the dark night, in the pine wood,
faint as a sigh—
still you must keep that truth!
The moon shines as before;
the hillside lamps glow as before;
stars fill the sky;
only the one you love is not in sight—
hung up like a dream;
you ask the dark night to give back
that one word—still you must believe
the valley keeps
that echo!
Meaning
A tender lyric of love and remembrance, urging the beloved not to discard a past warmth. Though the loved one is absent and the feeling grows faint as a sigh, the poet insists the truth of that love endures—proven by the echo still held in the valley.
别丢掉这一把过往的热情，现在流水似的，轻轻在幽冷的山泉底，在黑夜，在松林，叹息似的渺茫，你仍要保存那真！一样是月明，一样是隔山灯火，满天的星，只使人不见，梦似的挂起，你问黑夜要回那一句话——你仍得相信山谷中留着有那回音！
Appreciation
[Plain Paraphrase] The speaker begs the other not to throw away "this handful of bygone passion," now flowing like water to the cold spring bottom, in the night and pines, faint as a sigh—yet "still keep that truth." The moon, lamps and stars are unchanged, only the person is unseen; ask the night for that one word, and believe the valley keeps the echo. [Structure] It moves from the plea, to the fading image, to the unchanged scene, to the final assurance of the echo. [Imagery] Water, cold spring, sigh, moon, dream and echo build a delicate, nocturnal mood. The closing "echo" is the emotional key: love's voice outlasts absence. Quiet and lyrical, the poem is a model of Lin Huiyin's clear, restrained feeling.
【白话串讲】 林徽因写《别丢掉》：“别丢掉，这一把过往的热情”——“轻轻，在幽冷的山泉底，在黑夜，在松林”——“你仍要保存那真”——她写别丢掉——你仍要保存那真。 【意象与手法】 “别丢掉这一把过往的热情”写别丢掉过往的热情；“在幽冷的山泉底、在黑夜，在松林”写幽冷山泉；“一样是月明、一样是隔山灯火”写一样是月明；结以“你仍得相信山谷中留着有那回音”写山谷中留着有那回音。清婉抒情。 【情感与主旨】 林徽因写怀人抒情之作，写别丢掉这一把过往的热情、山谷中留着有那回音，是林徽因诗中的名篇。 【名句点睛】 常考“别丢掉，这一把过往的热情”写别丢掉过往的热情；“你仍得相信山谷中留着有那回音”写山谷回音。
Background
Lin Huiyin (1904–1955), originally named Lin Huiyin, was a modern Chinese poet and architect from Minhou, Fujian. Active in the Crescent Moon (Xinyue) literary group, she is celebrated for lucid, musical lyrics that blend classical restraint with modern free verse. "Don't Cast It Away" is a love poem addressed to a departed or unreachable beloved; long read as a coded message of enduring affection. As one of few prominent women poets of early modern China, her work is prized for clarity and emotional precision, bridging the old ci sensibility and the new vernacular line.
《别丢掉》为现代诗人林徽因所作诗。林徽因（1904—1955），原名林徽音，福建闽侯人，现代女诗人、建筑学家。此诗写怀人抒情，为怀人之作。诗中「别丢掉这一把过往的热情，现在流水似的」写别丢掉这一把过往的热情，现在流水似的；「在幽冷的山泉底，在黑夜，在松林」写在幽冷的山泉底，在黑夜，在松林；「你仍要保存那真」写你仍要保存那真；「你问黑夜要回那一句话——你仍得相信山谷中留着有那回音」写你问黑夜要回那一句话——你仍得相信山谷中留着有那回音。林徽因此诗以怀人抒情、山谷中留着有那回音写其抒情之情，清婉抒情，是林徽因诗中的名篇。此篇《别丢掉》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《别丢掉》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 art is "limpid feeling, the moon as emotional vehicle." It opens with the imperative "Don't cast it away," immediately establishing intimacy and urgency. The passion is then imaged as flowing water sinking to a "cold spring bottom"—desire cooled yet preserved. Parallel settings ("in the dark night, in the pine wood") and the simile "faint as a sigh" externalise fading feeling without rhetoric. The middle turn ("The moon shines as before…") uses unchanged nature (moon, lamps, stars) as a stable frame against which human absence stands out—only "the one is not in sight." The climax rests on the metaphor of the echo: asking the night for "that one word" and believing "the valley keeps the echo" transforms silence into a guarantee of continuance. Tight, incremental structure and quiet music make the poem a masterclass in restraint.
此诗艺术上以「清婉抒情、以月写情」见长。全诗由别丢掉这一把过往的热情而在幽冷的山泉底而一样是月明。起「别丢掉这一把过往的热情，现在流水似的」写别丢掉这一把过往的热情：别丢掉这一把过往的热情，现在流水似的；「在幽冷的山泉底，在黑夜，在松林」写在幽冷的山泉底：在幽冷的山泉底，在黑夜，在松林；「一样是月明，一样是隔山灯火」写一样是月明：一样是月明，一样是隔山灯火；结「你问黑夜要回那一句话——你仍得相信山谷中留着有那回音」写山谷中留着有那回音：你问黑夜要回那一句话——你仍得相信山谷中留着有那回音。全诗以月写情，由别丢掉这一把过往的热情而山谷中留着有那回音，清婉抒情，是林徽因诗中的名篇。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。
Allusions
The "echo" (huiyin) draws on the classical topos of sound returning from a ravine—voice answered by nature—used since the "Nineteen Old Poems" and echoed in later verse where mountains answer the lover's call. The "cold spring bottom" and "pine wood" recall the reclusive, chilly landscapes of Wang Wei and the cold-water moon imagery of Du Mu. "The moon shines as before" (yiyang shi yueming) reworks the ubiquitous moon as witness of constancy amid change. Though a modern free-verse poem, Lin Huiyin thus folds traditional nature imagery—moon, spring, pine, echo—into a thoroughly modern address, so the old emblems serve new, personal feeling.
诗中「别丢掉这一把过往的热情现在流水似的」「在幽冷的山泉底在黑夜在松林」「你仍要保存那真」「你问黑夜要回那一句话你仍得相信山谷中留着有那回音」等语，皆含典故故实。「别丢掉这一把过往的热情现在流水似的」写别丢掉这一把过往的热情现在流水似的；「在幽冷的山泉底在黑夜在松林」写在幽冷的山泉底在黑夜在松林；「你仍要保存那真」写你仍要保存那真；「你问黑夜要回那一句话你仍得相信山谷中留着有那回音」用回音之典（回音写应答），写你问黑夜要回那一句话你仍得相信山谷中留着有那回音。诗人用回音之典入诗，不着痕迹，而把怀人抒情之情写得真切可感，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。
Commentary
Critics treasure "Don't Cast It Away" as one of Lin Huiyin's finest lyrics and a landmark of modern Chinese love poetry. Its achievement is tonal: where many contemporaries declaimed, Lin whispers, turning absence into a held echo. The opening "this handful of bygone passion" and the close "the valley keeps that echo" are often quoted as definitive of her style—clear, musical, and emotionally exact. Set beside her architectural precision, the poem's careful sound-patterning (the repeated "as before," the falling "dream") shows a craftsman's ear. For readers it remains the clearest instance of how early modern Chinese poetry translated classical restraint into vernacular tenderness, and a touchstone for the "chant-the-beloved" mode.
这首《别丢掉》，是林徽因写怀人抒情之作，写别丢掉这一把过往的热情、在幽冷的山泉底、一样是月明、山谷中留着有那回音之情，清婉抒情。起「别丢掉这一把过往的热情，现在流水似的」——别丢掉这一把过往的热情，现在流水似的。写别丢掉这一把过往的热情：别丢掉这一把过往的热情、现在流水似的——过往的热情、流水似的；「在幽冷的山泉底，在黑夜，在松林」——在幽冷的山泉底，在黑夜，在松林。写在幽冷的山泉底：在幽冷的山泉底、在黑夜、在松林——山泉底、松林；「一样是月明，一样是隔山灯火」——一样是月明，一样是隔山灯火。写一样是月明：一样是月明、一样是隔山灯火——月明、灯火；结「你问黑夜要回那一句话——你仍得相信山谷中留着有那回音」——你问黑夜要回那一句话——你仍得相信山谷中留着有那回音。写山谷中留着有那回音：你问黑夜要回那一句话、你仍得相信山谷中留着有那回音——那一句话、有那回音。这「你问黑夜要回那一句话——你仍得相信山谷中留着有那回音」，是全诗之结：以山谷中留着有那回音写其抒情。全诗清婉抒情，以月写情，正是林徽因诗中的名篇。
Prosody
Line by line
这一把过往的热情，
this handful of bygone passion;
这一把过往的热情，
This handful of passion from the past,
起句写这一把过往的热情，起笔即见其热情。「这一把过往的热情」写这一把过往的热情，「这一把」写这一把、「过往的热情」写过往的热情。一句写这一把过往的热情，以这一把写这一把、以过往的热情写过往的热情，写尽这一把过往的热情之情。以情起兴，清婉而抒情，是「以情起兴」的妙笔。此句以寥寥数语写尽深意，情韵兼胜，正是全诗点睛之笔。其于字句之间暗藏波澜，于平易之中寄寓曲折，尤当反复涵泳，方能得其三昧。
The opening lifts a whole bygone passion into the present, and at once establishes Lin Huiyin's mode: feeling named directly, spare and lyrical. 'This handful' is the marvel—a passion cannot be weighed, yet the poet holds it out as something you can cup in two hands; 'of the past' fixes it as no longer present, a treasure retrieved. The few words carry depth, and the line's quiet emotional resonance becomes the keynote of the whole: an old love, tenderly remembered, not thrown away but carefully kept. It opens the poem not with a scene but with an inward object, and prepares the descent into the cold mountain spring where that passion will be laid away.
在幽冷的山泉底，
at the cold bottom of the mountain spring,
在幽冷的山泉底，
down at the bottom of a dark, cold mountain spring,
此句写在幽冷的山泉底，是全诗写山泉之态的关键。「在幽冷的山泉底」写在幽冷的山泉底，「在幽冷的」写在幽冷的、「山泉底」写山泉底。一句写在幽冷的山泉底，以在幽冷的写幽冷的、以山泉底写山泉底，写尽在幽冷的山泉底之情。以泉写景，清婉而抒情，是「以泉写景」的点睛之笔。此句以寥寥数语写尽深意，情韵兼胜，正是全诗点睛之笔。其于字句之间暗藏波澜，于平易之中寄寓曲折，尤当反复涵泳，方能得其三昧。
The line moves the passion into a sealed, subterranean place—the bottom of a dim, cold mountain spring. The setting is deliberately grave and still: 'dark and cold' against the warm passion of the opening, as if the old feeling has sunk out of daylight into deep water. The spring-bottom is where things are preserved yet unseen, an image of memory buried, kept intact by being hidden. The line uses scenery to hold emotion, and its chill sets off the moonlight that follows, the poem now suspended between buried warmth and the bright moon above.
一样是月明，
The moon shines as before;
一样是月明，
it is the same bright moonlight,
此句写一样是月明，是全诗写月明之态的关键。「一样是月明」写一样是月明，「一样是」写一样是、「月明」写月明。一句写一样是月明，以一样是写一样是、以月明写月明，写尽一样是月明之情。以月写景，清婉而抒情，是「以月写景」的点睛之笔。此句以寥寥数语写尽深意，情韵兼胜，正是全诗点睛之笔。其于字句之间暗藏波澜，于平易之中寄寓曲折，尤当反复涵泳，方能得其三昧。
The line turns upward to the moon, the same moonlight falling as of old. 'It is the same' is the tender point—the moon has not changed, however much the buried passion beneath it has altered. The moonlight falls alike on the old love and on the present solitude, making the present moment feel like an echo. The line uses the moon as the link between past and present, and its calm light answers the cold spring below: the warmth is buried, the moon unchanged, and between them the speaker holds the old feeling in check.
有那回音！
that echo!
有那回音！
there comes that answering echo!
结句写有那回音，是全诗立意的落点。「有那回音」用回音之典写有那回音，「有那」写有那、「回音」写回音。一句写有那回音，以有那写有那、以回音写回音，写尽有那回音之情。以音写情，清婉而抒情，是全诗最动人处，也是「以音写情」的点睛之笔。此句以寥寥数语写尽深意，情韵兼胜，正是全诗点睛之笔。其于字句之间暗藏波澜，于平易之中寄寓曲折，尤当反复涵泳，方能得其三昧。
The closing line lands the poem's meaning in a single word—the echo. The buried passion, the cold spring, the same moonlight: and still, in the end, 'that answering echo.' The echo is the return of the buried feeling, a sound called forth from the depths, answering the moon as a voice answers a voice. The exclamation lifts the poem from restraint to release: love, though laid away in a cold spring, is not dead but still reverberates. It is the most moving stroke of the piece, turning the whole inward elegy into a resounding 'yes,' and ends the poem on a note of feeling that lingers long after.
Study
Word focus
Related Reading
Su Shi's 'Shui Diao Ge Tou' ('may we live long, though leagues apart we share the moon') writes love-longing with clear expansiveness. Lin Huiyin's 'Don't Cast It Away' ('the moon shines as before… the valley keeps the echo') writes of kept love and the echo. Both are clear and feeling-filled: Su wishes long life across distance, Lin asks the night for that one word. One is Su's ease, one is Lin's tenderness—two faces of 'love-longing with clarity.'
苏轼《水调歌头·明月几时有》「但愿人长久，千里共婵娟」，写怀人感怀、清婉旷达，是宋词长调的名篇；林徽因《别丢掉》则以「你问黑夜要回那一句话——你仍得相信山谷中留着有那回音」「一样是月明」写有那回音、是月明。两诗同写怀人感怀、清婉旷达：一写但愿人长久、以千里共婵娟写思亲，一写你问黑夜要回那一句话山谷中留着有那回音、以月明写怀人；一为苏轼之旷达、一为林徽因之清婉，并读正可见诗写「怀人感怀」的两种笔法，皆于怀人之中见清婉。
八声甘州·对潇潇暮雨洒江天 Ba Sheng Gan Zhou (Eight Beats of Gan Zhou) · 'Over the River Sky a Drizzle at Dusk' 柳永 · 同写山谷凝望、清婉清丽，一写对潇潇暮雨洒江天、一写在幽冷的山泉底在黑夜在松林，皆于山谷之中见凝望 Both gaze into the valley with limpid feeling—one in autumn rain, one at the cold spring.Liu Yong's 'Ba Sheng Gan Zhou' ('over the river sky a drizzle at dusk… washes clear the autumn') writes valley-gazing with limpid gravity. Lin's poem dwells 'at the cold bottom of the mountain spring, in the dark night, in the pine wood.' Both gaze into the valley with clear feeling: Liu in autumn rain, Lin at the cold spring. Liu is limpid, Lin is tender—two approaches to 'gazing with feeling.'
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」，写山谷凝望、清婉清丽，是宋词写羁旅的名篇；林徽因《别丢掉》则以「在幽冷的山泉底，在黑夜，在松林」「一样是月明，一样是隔山灯火」写山泉底、隔山灯火。两诗同写山谷凝望、清婉清丽：一写对潇潇暮雨洒江天、以暮雨写清秋，一写在幽冷的山泉底在黑夜在松林、以山泉写怀人；一为柳永之清丽、一为林徽因之清婉，并读正可见诗写「山谷凝望」的两种笔法，皆于山谷之中见凝望。