北风行
烛龙[1]栖寒门,
光耀犹旦开。
日月照之何不及此[2]?
惟有北风号怒天上来。
燕山雪花大如席,
片片吹落轩辕台。
幽州思妇十二月,
停歌罢笑双蛾摧[3]。
倚门望行人,
念君长城[4]苦寒良可哀。
别时提剑救边去,
遗此虎文金鞞靫[5]。
中有一双白羽箭,
蜘蛛结网生尘埃。
箭空在,
人今战死不复回。
不忍见此物,
焚之已成灰。
黄河捧土尚可塞,
北风雨雪恨难裁!
《北风行》是乐府调名,内容多写北风雨雪、行人不归的伤感之情。李白于公元752年秋游幽州时,目睹当地百姓饱受战火的痛苦而作此诗。诗的开头通过怪诞离奇的神话,展现一个幽冷严寒的北方世界。以此为基础,作者又进一步描写足以显示北方冬季特征的景象:“日月照之何不及此?惟有北风号怒天上来。燕山雪花大如席,片片吹落轩辕台。”落笔大气,意境雄浑壮阔,故成千古名句。接下来诗人塑造了一个忧心忡忡、愁肠百结的思妇形象,塞北苦寒,征人的困境不言自明,更引起对远在长城的丈夫的担心。“提剑救边”刻画了丈夫为国慷慨从戎的英武形象。如果说离家日久,蛛网纵横已使人黯然神伤,箭尚在,人空守则使人不忍。思妇含恨焚箭这一举动将全篇的情感酝酿到最高点,在结尾强烈地爆发出来。
注释:
[1]烛龙:中国古代神话传说中的龙。传说此龙住在极北的寒门,终日不见太阳,睁眼为昼,闭眼为夜。
[2]此:指幽州,在今北京市南郊。
[3]双蛾摧:双眉紧锁,形容悲伤、愁闷的样子。双蛾:女子的双眉。
[4]长城:此处泛指北方前线。
[5]鞞(bǐnɡ)靫(chá):绘有虎纹图案的箭袋。
The North Wind
The candle-holding Dragon curls o’er Polar Gate,[1]
Only at dawn his flickering light will radiate.
Nor sun nor moon will shine there far and nigh,
Only the howling northern wind blows down from the sky.
The snowflakes from north mountains,big as pillows white,
Fall flake on flake upon Yellow Emperor’s Height.[2]
The twelfth moon sees the wife in lonely bower sit,
She will nor sing nor smile,with eyebrows tightly knit.
She leans against the door and looks at passers-by,
Thinking of her husband who with cold might shiver
Beyond the Great wall and sigh.
When he started,his sword in hand,
To save the borderland.
He left her two white-feathered arrows in a golden quiver.
The pair of arrows’mid cobwebs and dust remain.
Her lord who fell in battle won’t come back again.
How could she bear to see the tiger-striped quiver?
She tries to burn it into ashes.
Building a dam,we may stop the flow of Yellow River.
How could the northern wind assuage her grief that gashes?
注释:
[1]According to Chinese myth,the North Pole was illuminated by the candle held by a dragon whose eyes would make day when opened and night when closed.
[2]The Yellow Emperor was believed to be an ancestor of the Chinese people and inventor of south-seeking compass.