● 陈晴山 陈敏华 Chen Qing-shan, Michael Tan
 译／陈敏良 陈敏华Trans. by Peter Chen, Michael Tan

　　光河内弟将就商吉隆坡，依依有惜别意，故反其词以释之。

　　Guanghe my younger brother-in-law is about to move to 
Kuala Lumpur in pursuit of his business interest. In 
expression of my feeling of deep regret at his departure, I 
forward this composition.

　自古伤离别　　Parting is such sad sorrow since time of old.

　离别亦何伤　　But why should it be so?

　人生有聚散　　To meet and then to part's our lot in life;

　浑如戏一场　　It's transient as a play.

5 歌台与舞榭　　Life's like a singing, dancing stage:

　昨宵方打烊　　Only the night before the curtains fall,

　今夜华灯上　　To-night the lights are all ablaze once more

　仙乐又飘扬　　As lovely music fills the air.

　人生聚必散　　In life we meet and then to part,

10散亦不复长　　Though our parting may not be long.

　浮萍吹忽聚　　(1)Floating duckweeds disperse and gather ;

　离合讵有常　　To part or meet is n'er for eternity.

　何况吾与子　　Why shouldn't it be for you and me?

　去国久栖遑　　We've (2)struggled long, away from native home.

15此去百英里　　You'll only be a (3)hundred miles from here,

　一样是他乡　　But you're still on foreign land.

　相处漫逾纪　　Together we've been over twelve years long,

　小别固无妨　　This short parting we should not mind.

　譬如三餐饭　　It's like the three meals that one eats a 
                day:

20日夕餍膏粱　　If night or day , each meal's a (4)feast,

　偶然夹藜藿　　An occasional dish of (5)bramble coarse 

　转觉茱根香　　Becomes a meal of fragrant (6)herbal root.

　又如鸡林贾　　It's like the clever (7)Merchant of Jilin,

　满载白与黄　　His pocket full of silver and gold.

25有时思风雅　　E'en he sometimes has cultural urge

　亦复重词章　　To enjoy a poem or two.

　时间有昼夜　　Time has day and it has night,

　气候有炎凉　　Weather can be hot and can be cold.

　相形虽成绌　　All these are like contradictions in form,

30相得乃益彰　　But they complement each other in fact.

　纵谓别离苦　　It's often said, "Parting is such bitter 
                sorrow."

　此味亦应尝　　Yet we have need to sometimes taste.

　雪州风月好　　Enjoy the beauteous (8)breeze and moon of 
                (9)Selangor State,

　买醉任千觞　　Get the wine and drink a thousand cheers!

35首都多名卉　　The Capital is renowned for abundant 
                flowers.

　看花不厌狂　　Their wanton enjoyment will never tire you.

　行行莫四顾　　Get on your way and don't look back.

　前路趁晨光　　Start your journey at the first light of 
                dawn.

　愧乏琼瑶赠　　Embarrassed I am, with no precious gift,

40呼儿唱渭阳　　(10)I call my sons to sing the Weiyang Song.

一九五四甲午之秋　Autumn of Jiawu Year, 1954
七月既望　15th day of the 7th Month
晴山于怡保　Qingshan in Ipoh

【注解】
　　第5行：舞榭——舞台。

　　第6行：打烊——闭店、关门。

　　第11行：浮萍——喻飘泊身世。取自杜甫诗“相看万里别，同是
一浮萍”。

　　第12行：讵——岂有？哪有？之意。

　　第14行：去国——作者云离开老家福建。

　　第14行：栖遑——忙碌在外奔波之意，出自魏书“栖遑外土”。

　　第15行：百英里——怡保和吉隆坡之距离也。

　　第17行：逾纪——一纪为十二年，作者一家和光河一家自1941年
后一同移居怡保，此诗写于1954年，刚好是十三年多。

　　第20行：膏粱——美食之意，出自《国语》。

　　第21行：藜藿——粗饭淡菜之意。

　　第23行：鸡林贾——古朝鲜之商人，曾把白居易的诗卖给国人，
每篇叫价一金，后人以此形容很会做生意的人。

　　第24行：白与黄——本句原是“黄白”，即金银也，因韵之故，
作者把它写成：白与黄。

　　第33行：雪州——马来西亚雪兰莪州之简称。

　　第33行：风月——风月表面上可作风光，但这是个双关语，当年
在吉隆坡有间兴化菜馆，是光可舅常去的餐馆，光河出身福清，属兴
化。

　　第35行：首都——即吉隆坡也。

　　第39行：琼瑶——美玉，贵重礼物。

　　第40行：渭阳——出自《诗·秦风·渭阳篇》，当年秦康公送他
的舅舅重耳回国，送到渭阳，作诗云：“我送舅氏，曰到渭阳”后人
以渭阳喻甥舅关系。

　　作者在此用这典故非常巧妙精彩，“渭阳”除了有送别之意外，
当作者“呼儿唱渭阳”时，又点出甥舅的关系了。

　　1.The term 浮萍 fu pin means duckweed, a type of weed 
which grows and floats on water. It denotes the 
changeability of life or fortune. 

　　2.Original text is 栖遑 (xi huang: busily run about in 
an unsettled manner). 晴山 Qing-shan first left his native 
county in 1917 and arrived in Malaya at the age of 23. 
Except for two periods in the 1920's and 1930's , he spent 
all his life in Malaya mostly as a school teacher in a 
number of schools and life was financially always a 
struggle. 

　　3.Hundred miles: Guanghe was moving home from 怡保 Ipoh 
to 吉隆坡 Kuala Lumpur, a distance actually of about 150
miles by road at that time. 

　　4.Original text is 膏粱 (gao liang: fat meat and fine 
grain, thus a personification of rich food).

　　5.Original text is 藜藿 (li huo: a kind of bramble, 
personifying coarse food).

　　6.Original text is 茱根 (zhu gen: the root of a 
medicinal plant which has a strong fragrance.)

　　7.Original text is 鸡林贾 (Jilin gu: Chicken Forest 
Merchant). Jilin is an old name for Korea. Even in ancient 
times, the poems of the Tang poet 白居易 Bai Juyi was so 
highly treasured that a Korean merchant was able to sell 
them to his country's Ministers for one gold piece each. The
expression Jilin gu is used thereafter to describe the 
renown of a poem or to mean a clever businessman.

　　8.Original text is 风月 (Feng yue: Wind and Moon). 
There was a 兴化 Xinghua (Hinghwa) restaurant in Kuala 
Lumpur by this name, a favourite among the Xinghua 
compatriots of Guanghe and Qing-shan. This is a pun on the
restaurant name because the expression feng yue can also 
mean scenery and is synonymous with the expression 风光 
feng guang meaning scenery. 

　　9.Original text is 雪州 (Xue Zhou: the abbreviated name
for the Malayan State of Selangor whose capital is Kuala 
Lumpur.)

　　10.Original text is 呼儿唱渭阳 (Hu er chang Weiyang: 
Call on my son to sing Weiyang). The allusion of Weiyang is
from a poem or song in 诗经 (Shijing: Book of Poetry). 
This was sung by 秦康公 (Qin Kanggong, Duke Kang of Qin) in
635 B.C. then heir apparent of the State of Qin, while he 
escorted his uncle 重耳 (Chong Er), as far as the bank of 
the Wei River (渭水), to return to his own State of Jin (晋
), after the uncle' s nineteen years of political refuge 
in Qin (秦). Chong Er was the younger brother of Duke Kang's 
mother, and hence his uncle. 

别离词赠王光河
词品
【Appreciation of Farewell Poem to Guanghe】

　　母亲王义宋，除了大哥大姐之外，还有四个弟弟，我们的五舅光
河排行最小，也是母亲最爱护的弟弟，早年在福清县江兜村老祖家时
，外祖母去世，外祖父续弦了。这位继母常借故虐待光河五舅，都是
由母亲出面干涉阻止。小弟弟也知恩报德，后来我们两家，在马来亚
一同逃难时，光河五舅，多方照顾我们一家，帮忙张罗住处和三餐。

　　Apart from an elder brother and elder sister, our mother
Wang Yi-song had four younger brothers. Guanghe was the 
youngest among them and was also one whom she loved and 
looked after most. They spent their childhood in the 
ancestral home at Jiandou village in the county of Fuqing 
(Fujian province). When our maternal grandmother passed 
away, grandfather re-married. The step-mother did not treat 
Guanghe kindly and mother always had to stand up for him. He
never forgot what mother did for him and would repay her 
kindness later in life. During the Japanese occupation in 
Malaya, 5th Uncle Guanghe provided our family with shelter 
and often with food.

　　五舅自小就不喜欢念书，但对做生意一事，却是精灵，在怡保时
和几位同乡开设经营汽车零件，非常成功。王家其余四个兄弟里的大
舅及四舅都从事教育，并且还是知名的书法家及诗人，但五舅却经商
有成，成为富商。光河五舅虽然未受高深教育，但继承了外祖父的好
手艺，还写得一手好字。他还试着写诗，有时会被四舅看轻，而我们
的父亲晴山倒是挺支持这名小舅子的创作，在这首诗中以鸡林贾譬喻
五舅，便隐含赞扬他对诗词有极大兴趣的用意。1954年，五舅为了更
加发展商业，决定离开怡保，移居首都吉隆坡，和多年来长期相处的
姐姐（我们的母亲）及姐丈（我们的父亲）告别，两家依依惜别，父
亲遂作此《惜别词》，发表于当时建国日报副刊，脍炙人口，传诵一
时。

　　Uncle Guanghe never liked to study when he was young, 
but he was astute in business. In Ipoh (Malaya) he went into
partnership with his compatriots from his native county to 
set up a motor spare parts business which flourished. Two of
the four brothers of the Wang family (our 1st and 4th 
uncles) became teachers and were both accomplished 
calligraphers and poets. But Guanghe went on to become a 
successful wealthy businessman. Despite his lack of formal 
learning, he nevertheless inherited his father's artistic 
talent and wrote well with the brush pen. Guanghe also 
dabbled in composing poems. In the art of poetry, he was 
looked down somewhat by 4th Uncle, but our father Qing-shan 
was a lot more sympathetic towards his younger 
brother-in-law's attempt at poetry. This is reflected in 
the lines of the poem which observed that even the clever 
Merchant of Jilin sometimes has the cultural urge for him to
enjoy poetry. In 1954, Guanghe decided to move his family to
Kuala Lumpur to further his business interest and he had to 
part from his elder sister (our mother) and his elder 
brother-in-law (our father) who had all lived in the same 
town Ipoh for many years. The two families had to 
"regretfully part" which was why father wrote this poem of 
"Sorrowful Farewell". It was first published in the 
supplement of the paper Jianguo Daily and was popularly 
acclaimed. 

　　这首诗虽为一惜别诗，但和一般典型的“依依不忍，流泪满襟”
那种惜别诗大不相同，此诗虽“惜别”但不“诉伤”，反而多处用肯
定的语气去鼓励小舅，是此诗的一大特点。

　　Although this poem falls into the category of "farewell 
poems", yet it is not quite the same as the usual sorrowful 
and tearful compositions. Although it expresses the 
sentiments of a sorrowful parting, it is not overdone. On 
the contrary, in many places the poem encourages and exhorts
the younger brother-in-law to go forward in life. This is 
the most distinctive point about the poem.

　　诗中名句，上下相反，读起来非常巧妙。
　　如上句曰：“自古伤离别，
　　下句则：离别又何伤？”

　　又上句曰：“昨宵方打烊，
　　下句曰：今夜华灯上，”

　　又上句曰：“人生聚忽散，
　　下句则：散亦不复长，”

    一反一正，一唱一和，读起来实在有趣极了。

　　The poem is full of antithetically balanced pairs of 
lines which make very interesting reading. For example:

　　1st line: "Parting is such sad sorrow since time of old.
　　2nd line: But why should it be so ?"

　　1st line: "Only the night before the curtains fall,
　　2nd line: To-night the lights are all ablaze once more."

　　1st line: "In life, we meet and then to part,
　　2nd line: Though our parting may not be long."

　　As the lines alternately flip and turn, sing and respond
in counterpoint fashion, the poem makes reading even more 
interesting.

　　诗中每一句，都是用浅易的文字写出心中深情，父亲生前最欣赏
白居易的诗作，喜欢引用白居易的话云“天下无正声，悦耳即为娱”
，并说“香山之诗，老妪都解，此真诗人也！”这首离别词，就是用
此手法写的，字字浅白易解，句句吐出铭腑真情！

　　The language used is simple and unadorned and yet able 
to bring out the deeply felt sentiments. Father loved the 
poems of Bai Juyi and was fond of following the dictum of 
the poet who said, "There is no such thing as the correct 
sound (in composition). Whatever that pleases the ear, that 
then is the right sound. " Father once wrote, "The poems of
Bai Juyi can be understood by even the old lady of the 
village." Truly a great poet! The composition of this 
farewell poem fits such a description. Every word is plain 
and simple, but every phrase spews forth the deeply felt 
sentiments held within.

　　惜别词一般都是悲伤愁惜，例如李白有“举杯销愁愁更愁”《宣
州谢眺楼饯别校书叔云》，王维有“劝君更尽一杯酒，西出阳关无故
人”《渭城曲》，杜甫也有“蜡烛有心还惜别，替人垂泪到天明”《
赠别》等悲伤之辞，但父亲这首惜别词却别有生气，嘱五舅不要因离
别而悲伤，要看前程迈进，诗中写了“首都多名卉，看花不厌狂，行
行莫四顾，前行趁晨光”、“行行莫四顾，前路趁晨光”。多么鼓励
啊！

　　Farewell poems are mostly sad and melancholic. For 
example, Li Bai's Raise your wine cup to dispel your sorrow;
sorrow begets sorrow, (Farewell to Uncle Yun, the Imperial 
Librarian at Xie Tiao's Pavilion in Xuanzhou). Wang Wei's I
urge you Sir let another wine cup flow; West of the Southern
Pass you'll meet no one you know. (A Farewell Song), Du 
Fu's The candle with its wick bears the parting pain, For 
thee, its tears will flow till morning comes again. (A 
Farewell Gift). But this farewell poem of father's has a 
certain liveliness of spirit. It exhorts 5th uncle not to be
overly sad because of the parting, but to forward in life. 
The poem says: "The Capital is renowned for abundant 
flowers, Their wanton enjoyment will never tire you." "Get 
on your way and don't look back, Start your journey on the 
first light of dawn."

　　最后一句，“呼儿唱渭阳”，实在是作者用典的精彩技术，光河
是我们的五舅，父亲把我们叫出来欢送舅舅，那安排了“外甥送舅舅
”的一幅场景，这是引用2000年前外甥秦康公送舅舅重耳到渭阳的典
故，渭阳比喻惜别，又比喻甥舅，妙极了！

　　The last line, "I call my sons to sing the Weiyang song"
is an illustration of the poet's clever use of classical 
allusion. Guanghe is our 5th uncle. When father summons the 
two of us his sons to come forward, he paints a scene of 
nephews bidding farewell to their uncle. With this simple 
line, father has transported a 2,000 year old allusion into 
the poem. The allusion is from the story of Duke Kang of Qin
who bid farewell to his uncle by accompanying the uncle on 
the journey as far as the bank of the Wei River. The 
reference to "Weiyang" now personifies "farewell", in 
addition to personifying the close relationship between 
nephew and uncle. What a brilliant stroke! 

关于作者和这首词……
Opening Remarks

　　我们将在本栏发表家父陈晴山的三首古诗，这是第一首。随着第
三首诗的发表，荔子情也将告一段落。家父以古文和白话文写了许多
作品，但古诗才是他的最爱。他已预知自己的孩子将无法了解古诗，
更谈不上欣赏它们。1957年，家母庆祝61岁生日时，一些朋友写了一
批古诗作品贺寿，父亲说他会把这些古诗：“行且精装成帙，贮以锦
函，藏以芸笥，遗之后嗣，永作家珍，子孙即不能读，视为周鼎商彝
，古色古香，亦自至宝。”

　　This is the first of 3 classical poems by our father 
Chen Qing-shan to be featured in the column. Lizi Qing will
conclude with the publication of the third classical poem. 
Father wrote profusely in both modern and classical Chinese,
but classical poems were his first love. Writing in 1957, 
he had foreseen that his own children will be unable to 
understand classical poems, much less to appreciate them. 
He said of a collection of classical poems contributed by 
his friends in celebration of mother's 61st birthday: "I 
will carefully wrap them up, place them in brocade lined 
boxes and store them with fragrant scent, to leave behind 
for my descendants as a family treasure for all time. My 
children and grandchildren may not know how to read them, 
but they can look upon them as Zhou and Shang bronze ware of
antiquity to be revered and treasured all the same."