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叹花
自恨寻芳去校迟，
不须惆怅[1]怨芳时。
狂风落尽深红色，
绿叶成阴子[2]满枝。
注释：
[1] 惆怅：伤感；失意。
[2] 子：草木的果实，如《汉武故事》中有“因指谓上，王母种桃，三千年结一子”。
Sighing over Fallen Flowers
Du Mu
I regret to be late to seek for blooming spring;
The flowers not in full bloom in years past I’ve seen.
The strong wind blows down flowers which sway and swing,
The tree will be laden with red fruit and leaves green.
It was said that the poet met with a beautiful maiden and asked for her hand, but next year when he came she was married, so he compares the maiden to a tree with fruit.
《叹花》是唐代诗人杜牧创作的一首七绝。全诗四句二十八字。诗人借寻春迟到，芳华已逝，花开花落、子满枝头，喻少女青春已过，含蓄委婉地抒发机缘已误，时不再来的惆怅之情。此诗通篇采用“比”的手法，形象生动，含蓄自然，耐人寻味。
“Sighing over Fallen Flowers” is a seven-part poem written by Du Mu, a poet of the Tang Dynasty. The poem is composed in four lines of twenty-eight characters. The poet makes use of the late search for spring, the passing of fragrant flowers, the blossoming and falling of flowers, and the fullness of children on the branches to describe the passing of the youth of a young girl, and expresses in a subtle and euphemistic way the melancholy feeling that the opportunity has been missed and the time is no longer coming. This poem uses the technique of “comparison” throughout, which is vivid, subtle and natural, and intriguing.
