ALONE IN HER BEAUTY

Five-character-ancient-verse
ALONE IN HER BEAUTY
---Du Fu

Who is lovelier than she?
Yet she lives alone in an empty valley.
She tells me she came from a good family
Which is humbled now into the dust.
...When trouble arose in the Kuan district,
Her brothers and close kin were killed.
What use were their high offices,
Not even shielding their own lives? --
The world has but scorn for adversity;
Hope goes out, like the light of a candle.
Her husband, with a vagrant heart,
Seeks a new face like a new piece of jade;
And when morning-glories furl at night
And Mandarin ducks lie side by side,
All he can see is the smile of the new love,
While the old love weeps unheard.
The brook was pure in its mountain source,
But away from the mountain its waters darken.
...Waiting for her maid to come from selling pearls
For straw to cover the roof again,
She picks a few flowers, no longer for her hair,
And lets pine-needles fall through her fingers,
And, forgetting her thin silk sleeve and the cold,
She leans in the sunset by a tall bamboo.

五言古诗   佳人
---杜甫

绝代有佳人， 幽居在空谷；
自云良家子， 零落依草木。
关中昔丧乱， 兄弟遭杀戮；
官高何足论？ 不得收骨肉。
世情恶衰歇， 万事随转烛。
夫婿轻薄儿， 新人美如玉。
合昏尚知时， 鸳鸯不独宿；
但见新人笑， 那闻旧人哭？
在山泉水清， 出山泉水浊。
侍婢卖珠回， 牵萝补茅屋。
摘花不插发， 采柏动盈掬。
天寒翠袖薄， 日暮倚修竹。
 
[注释]
①绝代：绝世，举世无双。汉乐府《李延年歌》中有“北方有佳人，绝世而独立”句。
②良家子：好人家的子女。零落：飘零沦落。
③“关中”句：指安禄山叛乱攻陷长安。
④世情：世俗人情。恶：厌恶。衰歇：衰落失势。此句谓由于母家因兵乱而衰败，自己也为世俗势利嫌弃。“万事”句：喻人情世故反复无常像烛光转移不定，因风而动。
⑤夫婿：古代妇女也称丈夫为婿。
⑥合昏：植物名，即夜合花，其花朝开夜合，故曰“尚知时”。鸳鸯：一种水鸟，雌雄相伴不散。此句自叹不如花鸟。
⑦“在山”二句：诗中佳人表白自己志节贤贞。
⑧“摘花”二句：佳人摘花但不用它饰容，而喜欢一把一把地采集松柏，写佳人的志趣坚贞高洁。动：动辄，往往。盈掬：一满把，两手捧取叫“掬”。

[赏析]
这是一首弃妇诗。诗中的女子兄弟被杀了，又遭丈夫遗弃，只好飘零到山中安家。然而主人公坚贞不屈，没有被不幸所压倒，将寂寞孤独、冷暖哀怨积压于内心深处，在清贫困窘中顽强地生活着。诗人对这位妇女充满同情和赞叹，也寄托着诗人的身世之感，从这位妇女形象中能看到诗人自己的影子和性格。