原文 Original text
繁體 Traditional
含詞賦 With rhapsody
舉哀之狀
Rhapsody on the Panic-Stricken Court
面如秋後黃桑葉，腰似春前嫩柳條。面如秋后黄桑叶，腰似春前嫩柳条。
儲君腳軟，難扶喪杖盡哀儀；储君脚软，难扶丧杖尽哀仪；
侍長魂飛，怎戴梁冠遵孝禮。侍长魂飞，怎戴梁冠遵孝礼。
嬪妃打跌，綵女欹斜。嫔妃打跌，彩女欹斜。
嬪妃打跌，卻如狂風吹倒敗芙蓉；嫔妃打跌，却如狂风吹倒败芙蓉；
綵女欹斜，好似驟雨沖歪嬌菡萏。彩女欹斜，好似骤雨冲歪娇菡萏。
眾臣悚懼，骨軟筋麻。众臣悚惧，骨软筋麻。
戰戰兢兢，痴痴啞啞。战战兢兢，痴痴哑哑。
把一座白虎殿，卻像斷梁橋；把一座白虎殿，却像断梁桥；
鬧喪臺，就如倒塌寺。闹丧台，就如倒塌寺。
逐句解 Line by line
面如秋後黃桑葉，腰似春前嫩柳條。
面如秋后黄桑叶，腰似春前嫩柳条。
Their faces like yellowed mulberry leaves after autumn; their waists like tender willow-withes before spring.
The opening simile paints the courtiers drained and bending with fright. 似 sì.
儲君腳軟，難扶喪杖盡哀儀；
储君脚软，难扶丧杖尽哀仪；
The heir-apparent's legs went weak, scarce able to lean on the mourning-staff and perform the full rites of grief;
儲君 the crown prince. 喪杖 the staff carried by chief mourners. 盡哀儀 to complete the observances of mourning; 盡 jìn.
侍長魂飛，怎戴梁冠遵孝禮。
侍长魂飞，怎戴梁冠遵孝礼。
the senior attendants' souls flew off — how could they don the ridged cap and keep the rites of filial duty?
侍長 zhǎng, the chief attendants. 梁冠 (liáng guān) the ridged ceremonial cap; 冠 here the noun, guān.
嬪妃打跌，綵女欹斜。
嫔妃打跌，彩女欹斜。
The consorts stumbled and fell; the serving-maids reeled and swayed.
欹斜 (yī xié) to lean and totter.
嬪妃打跌，卻如狂風吹倒敗芙蓉；
嫔妃打跌，却如狂风吹倒败芙蓉；
The consorts, stumbling and falling, were like withered lotuses toppled by a wild wind;
芙蓉 the lotus, emblem of the fair women collapsing.
綵女欹斜，好似驟雨沖歪嬌菡萏。
彩女欹斜，好似骤雨冲歪娇菡萏。
the serving-maids, reeling and swaying, were just like delicate lotus-buds knocked askew by a sudden rain.
菡萏 (hàn dàn) lotus buds. 好似 sì.
眾臣悚懼，骨軟筋麻。
众臣悚惧，骨软筋麻。
The assembled ministers, struck with dread, felt their bones go soft and their sinews numb.
骨軟筋麻 'bones soft and sinews numb,' paralyzed with fear.
戰戰兢兢，痴痴啞啞。
战战兢兢，痴痴哑哑。
Trembling and quaking, dazed and dumbstruck,
痴痴啞啞 stupefied and speechless.
把一座白虎殿，卻像斷梁橋；
把一座白虎殿，却像断梁桥；
they turned the White-Tiger Hall into something like a bridge with its beam snapped through;
斷梁橋 a bridge whose main span has broken — an image of collapse and disorder.
鬧喪臺，就如倒塌寺。
闹丧台，就如倒塌寺。
the clamorous mourning-dais became just like a temple fallen to ruin.
鬧喪臺 the dais of the noisy funeral. The rhapsody closes on wholesale collapse.
總評 Commentary
The rhapsody turns the court's terror into a comic set-piece — an entire hall of officials, princes, and consorts reduced to toppling lotuses and a bridge with its beam snapped. Coming straight after the muffled shout from the coffin, its exaggerated imagery of soft bones and numb sinews deflates the solemnity of the death-watch, and marks the tonal shift by which the chapter moves from the terrors of hell back toward the ordinary, faintly absurd business of the living world.