bǔ卜suàn算zǐ子·yǒng咏méi梅

Lu You wanted to win back the north and fight the Jin. But those at court who wanted peace often pushed him aside and attacked him, and he lost his post several times. In this lyric he speaks of himself through the plum blossom. It grows in a lonely place and suffers wind and rain, yet it will not compete for favor, and its character never changes. The year it was written is not agreed on. Much later, Mao Zedong wrote his own lyric to the same tune on the plum blossom, turning Lu You's mood the other way.

陆游一心想收复北方，主张抗金，却常常受到朝中主和派的排挤和打击，多次被罢官。这首词借梅花写自己：生在冷落的地方，受尽风雨，却不肯和别人争宠，品格始终不变。具体是哪一年写的，说法不一。后来毛泽东读了这首词，“反其意而用之”，也写了一首《卜算子·咏梅》。

Lu You (1125–1210), also called Fangweng, was a great poet of the Southern Song. He loved his country all his life and wanted to fight the Jin, but his career went badly and he was often pushed aside. He loved the plum blossom and wrote more than a hundred poems about it. To him, the plum blossom does not fear the cold, does not fight or grab, and is like a person of firm character.

陆游（1125—1210），号放翁，南宋大诗人。他一生爱国，主张抗金，可是仕途很不顺利，常被排挤。他特别喜欢梅花，写过一百多首咏梅的诗词。在他眼里，梅花不怕寒冷、不争不抢，就像一个有骨气的人。

The first stanza tells where the plum blossom lives. It is not in a pretty garden, but by a broken bridge outside a post station. No one tends it, no one admires it. Night falls and it grieves alone, and then wind and rain beat on it. Layer by layer, its hardship grows as bad as it can be. The second stanza tells of its character. It blooms early, not to steal spring from other flowers. If they are jealous, it does not care. The last two lines are the strongest. Even fallen into mud and crushed to dust, its fragrance remains. That fragrance is a person's character and ideals, which nothing can take away. Lu You is writing about himself, and about everyone who stays true to who they are.

上阕写梅花的处境。它不长在漂亮的花园里，而是开在驿站外的断桥边，没人照看，没人欣赏。天黑了，它独自发愁，还要挨风吹雨打。一层一层，把它的苦写到了极点。下阕写梅花的品格。它早早开放，不是为了和百花抢春天，别的花嫉妒它，它也不在乎。最后两句最有力量：就算落到泥里、碾成尘土，香气还在。这香气就是一个人的品格和志向，什么都夺不走。这是借梅花写自己，也是写所有坚守自己的人。