中文注释　　English

    僧志南，南宋诗僧，志南是他的法号，生平不详。

    ①短篷――小船。篷是船帆。船的代称。

    ②杖藜――“藜杖”的倒文。藜是一年生草木植物，茎杆直立，长老了可做拐杖。

    这首小诗，写诗人在微风细雨中拄杖春游的乐趣。

    诗人拄杖春游，却说“杖藜扶我”，是将藜杖人格化了，仿佛它是一位可以依赖的游伴，默默无言地扶人前行，给人以亲切感，安全感，使这位老和尚　游兴大涨，欣欣然通过小桥，一路向东。桥东和桥西，风景未必有很大差别，但对春游的诗人来说，向东向西，意境和情趣却颇不相同。“东”，有些时候便是“春”的同义词，譬如春神称作东君，东风专指春风。诗人过桥东行，正好有东风迎面吹来，无论西行、北行、南行，都没有这样的诗意。

    诗的后两句尤为精彩：“杏花雨”，早春的雨“杨柳风”，早春的风。这样说比“细雨”、“和风”更有美感，更富于画意。杨柳枝随风荡漾，给人以春风生自杨柳的印象称早春时的雨为“杏花雨”，与称夏初的雨为“黄梅雨”，道理正好相同。“小楼一夜听春雨，深巷明朝卖杏花”，南宋初年，大诗人陆游已将杏花和春雨联系起来。“沾衣欲湿”，用衣裳似湿未湿来形容初春细雨似有若无，更见得体察之精微，描模之细腻。试想诗人扶杖东行，一路红杏灼灼，绿柳翩翩，细雨沾衣，似湿而不见湿，和风迎面吹来，不觉有一丝儿寒意，这是怎样不耐心惬意的春日远足啊！

    有人不免要想，老和尚这样兴致勃勃地走下去，游赏下去，到他想起应该归去的时候，怕要体力不支，连藜杖也扶他不动了吧？不必多虑。诗的首句说：“古木阴中系短篷。”短篷不就是小船吗？老和尚原是乘小船沿溪水而来，那小船偏激在溪水边老树下，正待他解缆回寺呢。

    Seng Zhinan ( the time of his birth and death unknown ) was a nonk poet in the Southern Song Dynasty (1127－1279).

    This short poem describes the pleasure of an old monk’s outing on a Spring day . “I moored my skiff by an old tree, / A walking stick helps me over a bridge to east. / An apricot-blossom rain is drizzling my robe, / While a Spring-willow breeze is caressing my face.”

    The poem pictures that during a nice Spring day, an old monk who was travelling down streams anchored his small boat under an old tree and got on shore. Though old and weak but in high spirits, the old monk was slowly moving with a stick over a bridge towards east. With a Spring breeze caressing his face and a fine rain drizzling his clothe, the old man was enjoying the Spring scenery along his way in a relaxed and cheerful mood.

    Usually, a man walks with a stick not vice versa. However in this verse, the poet personified a walking stick by comparing it to a silent but reliable companion who would provide comfort and security to the old monk. Why did the monk choose to go to the eastern side of the bridge? In China, the word” east “is sometimes associated with Spring. For instance, God of Spring is called “ Gentleman of the East”, and “East Wind “refers specially to “spring wind”. On this Spring outing day ,the old monk was walking over the bridge to the east, or to the same direction from which a gentle Spring breeze was blowing is his face. Should the monk choose to go other directions, the line would not contain such poetic implications.

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