小序The Poet’s Preface
己亥五月以來，嶺南多風雨。均物銓德久治江南的朱雀，雖風華獨領卻因一籌莫展而羞愧難當，與某對談良久，感其言奮筆為之記。
Since the fifth month of the year Jihai, wind and rain have not left Lingnan. The Vermilion Bird—who long governed the lands south of the river, weighing all things and sifting virtue, peerless in brilliance, yet shamed to find itself at an impasse—spoke with a certain guest far into the night; moved by his words, I took up the brush and set this down.
作者英譯The Poet’s Own Translation
From beyond the world the Vermilion Bird comes,ten thousand years receding behind it.Above, it answers the Wings and Chariot constellations;below, it keeps the lands south of the great river.It weighs each thing, assays each virtue—Heaven and Earth bear witness;its splendor stands alone beyond the Central Plain.Mount Heng, beautiful through a thousand years:the bird lifts its wings into cloud.Here Shennong once tasted the hundred herbs;Jiangzhen Peak is lost in the clear autumn dawn.The Fire God wanders through dense bamboo and forest;from Zhurong Peak, every other summit falls away.Yao and Shun came here on their ritual circuits;Buddhist and Daoist alike call this blessed ground.Eight hundred li of mountain;seventy-two numinous peaks.Xuefeng to the west, Luoxiao to the east,long-standing attendants, facing one another.The Xiang hurries faithfully before them;from Returning Geese, a thousand li toward ancient Yueyang.How immense these rivers and mountains—and how many lives of consequence.Dongzhou Island was fortunate to receive Wang Chuanshan,whose learning and integrity astonished his age.Stone Drum heard the surge of waters and a world in turmoil;from eight directions, the worthy gathered.Li Bai and Du Fu sang Lake Dongting into evening;Zeng and Zuo struck their oars against the midstream current.Blood shed for the Republic is praised through a thousand years;its unbroken spirit abides on Yuelu Mountain.Mount Heng, ground of the gifted:all within the seas lean on them to uphold the sky.With a land so numinous and people so able, what more could we ask?Let the people govern, the country flourish, and freedom be theirs.I bow long before the Sacred Emperor in Zhurong Temple,all my earnest thoughts remain unsaid.When things are prized and virtue cast down, the promise cannot be fulfilled;better to withdraw and keep one’s own integrity whole.Beneath Jinjian Peak, the jade text will appear again;when the age grows clear and peaceful, I shall return.With that, the bird takes leave of its northern guestand turns once more toward the southern lands.Its wings open for flight;its heart, still troubled, cannot rest.
鑑賞Appreciation
朱雀是詩中的說話者，從衡山的神話、山川與人物談到自身的無力。前段鋪展愈廣，後段的遲疑便愈清楚。「鈞物銓德」與「物重德下」互相照應，使稱量萬物的形象轉為道德困境。結尾停在欲飛未飛之際，讓不安而非答案留在場中。
The speaking voice belongs to the Vermilion Bird, whose account moves from Mount Heng’s myths, landscapes and people to an admission of helplessness. The breadth of the opening makes the later hesitation more noticeable. Images of weighing things and judging virtue return as a moral difficulty. The poem stops with the bird about to fly, leaving its disquiet present rather than resolved.
