No. 44 · Tang poem · seven-character quatrain第 44 首 · 唐诗 · 七言绝句
cén岑shēn参Cen Shen · Tang唐
Meeting an Envoy Bound for the Capital
gù故yuán园dōng东wàng望lù路màn漫màn漫
shuāng双xiù袖lóng龙zhōng钟lèi泪bù不gān干
mǎ马shàng上xiāng相féng逢wú无zhǐ纸bǐ笔
píng凭jūn君chuán传yǔ语bào报píng平ān安
Underlined words have notes: tap one. The Pinyin button below shows or hides all pinyin. 一 and 不 are marked with the tone you actually say.字下有虚线的，点开有注释。下方的“拼音”按钮可以显示或隐藏全部拼音。“一”“不”标的是实际读出来的变调。
In 749, Cen Shen went out to the frontier for the first time. He was to be a secretary in the army at Anxi (around today's Kuqa, Xinjiang). He set out from Chang'an and travelled far to the west. On the road he met an envoy going back to the capital, the "envoy bound for the capital" of the title. He wanted to write home, but on horseback he had no paper or brush. So he asked the envoy to carry a spoken message.
唐玄宗天宝八载（749年），岑参第一次出塞，到安西（今新疆库车一带）的军队里做书记官。他从长安出发，向西走了很远。路上，他遇到一位要回长安的使者，也就是题目里的“入京使”。他想给家里写封信，可是在马背上，没有纸笔，只好请使者带个口信。
Cen Shen (about 715–770) was a Tang poet. Twice he served with armies on the northwest frontier and lived there for years. He wrote many poems about frontier landscapes and army life. He and Gao Shi are named together as the leading frontier poets.
岑参（约715—770），唐代诗人。他两次到西北边疆的军队里任职，在那里生活了好几年。他写了很多描写边塞风光和军中生活的诗，和高适并称“高岑”，是边塞诗派的代表。
The first line is a look back. Home is to the east, so far away that there is no going back. The second line is about tears. Both sleeves are soaked, and the tears still will not stop. That is how homesick he is. The third line turns: a chance meeting with an envoy, all in a hurry, with no paper or brush. The last line gives one message only: "Tell them I am safe." He has so much to say, but he picks the one thing that matters most, so his family will not worry. The words are simple, yet they move everyone, because anyone far from home says the same.
第一句是回头一望：家在东边，路那么远，已经回不去了。第二句写眼泪，把两只袖子都擦湿了，还擦不干，可见多么想家。第三句一转，写偶然遇到使者，又匆忙，又没有纸笔。最后一句只托他带一句话：“报平安”。想说的话太多，最后只说最要紧的一句，让家人放心。这句话很朴素，却特别打动人，因为每个出远门的人都会这样说。