把酒问月（故人贾淳令予问之）

青天有月来几时？我今停杯一问之。

以天问式疑问开篇，直承屈原《天问》追问宇宙本源的传统，也暗合张若虚《春江花月夜》「江畔何人初见月」之思。「停杯」是极传神的动作细节：诗人正饮宴之间忽然搁下酒杯，把酒兴转为哲思，醉中忽醒的姿态全在此二字。

The poem opens with a cosmic question in the tradition of Qu Yuan's 'Heavenly Questions,' echoing Zhang Ruoxu's 'who first saw the moon beside the river?' The gesture 'I stop my cup' is vividly precise: mid-feast the poet halts his wine and turns from drinking to metaphysics, capturing the moment a tipsy man sobers into thought.

人攀明月不可得，月行却与人相随。

对比与拟人并用。上句写人欲攀月而不得，象征凡人对永恒与完美的企慕终不可及；下句写月却自行随人，赋予无情之物以多情。一「不可得」一「却相随」，写出人与月的背离与亲近，暗含对人生有限而明月无穷的感叹。

Contrast and personification work together. The first half shows man's longing to reach the moon and his failure — the mortal's vain aspiration toward the eternal; the second half makes the moon, an insentient body, tenderly follow men. 'Cannot be had' against 'yet follows close' dramatizes both estrangement and intimacy between man and moon.

皎如飞镜临丹阙，绿烟灭尽清辉发。

比喻精工：以「飞镜」喻月，既写其圆，又写其动（月行如飞）。「丹阙」本指朱红宫阙，亦暗指天上宫阙、月宫门户。「绿烟」指遮蔽月色的云翳，「灭尽」写云开，「清辉发」写月华四射，一收一放，层次分明，色彩亦富（皎白、丹红、绿烟）。

A finely wrought simile: the moon is a 'flying mirror,' which conveys both roundness and motion. 'Crimson gates' evokes earthly palace gates and, by extension, the celestial gate of the moon palace. 'Green mist' is the cloud veil; when it 'dies away,' the pure radiance bursts forth — a tightening and release, rich in color (white, crimson, green).

但见宵从海上来，宁知晓向云间没。

对仗工稳：「但见」对「宁知」，「宵从海上来」对「晓向云间没」。「但见」是人的目力所及，「宁知」是人的智力所穷，写出人只能见月之来、不能知月之去，暗示宇宙规律远超人的认知，为下文的时空之叹蓄势。

A balanced couplet: 'we only see' answers 'who knows,' and 'at night rising from the sea' answers 'at dawn vanishing into clouds.' 'We only see' marks the limit of eyesight, 'who knows' the limit of understanding — man witnesses the moon's coming but cannot fathom its going, hinting that cosmic law exceeds human knowledge and setting up the meditation on time that follows.

白兔捣药秋复春，嫦娥孤栖与谁邻？

连用两个神话典故：月中有玉兔捣药、嫦娥奔月孤居。「秋复春」写时间循环无尽，以节序代岁月；「孤栖」「与谁邻」以反问写嫦娥永恒的孤独。神话在此被赋予人的情感：长生不老的月宫，竟是一座孤独的牢笼，正与诗人对永恒的矛盾态度相通。

Two moon myths are invoked: the jade hare pounding elixir and Chang'e dwelling alone after stealing the elixir. 'Autumn, then spring again' marks an endless cycle of time; 'lonely' and 'to whom is she neighbor?' use a rhetorical question to paint eternal solitude. The myth is humanized: the deathless moon palace proves a lonely prison, mirroring the poet's ambivalence toward eternity.

今人不见古时月，今月曾经照古人。

全诗警策之句。以「今人」「古时」「今月」「古人」四个时间性词语回环交错，构成回文般的往复节奏：月是恒常的见证者，人是流变的过客。语本张若虚「今人不见古时月，今月曾经照古人」而同调，写物是人非、生命短暂而宇宙长存之理，为下文人生如流水的比喻张本。

The poem's most famous couplet. Four temporal terms — 'men of today,' 'the moon of old,' 'this moon,' 'men of old' — interlock in a palindrome-like rhythm: the moon is the constant witness, men are transient passersby. It voices the theme that things endure while persons change, that individual life is brief and the cosmos long.

古人今人若流水，共看明月皆如此。

比喻承上：以「流水」喻古今之人，化用《论语》「逝者如斯夫，不舍昼夜」之意，写时间的不可挽留。「共看明月皆如此」宕开一笔：虽然代代如流水逝去，但每一代人仰望明月时生出的感动却古今相同——个体短暂，而人类的情感体验绵延不绝。

The metaphor continues: men past and present are like a running stream, invoking Confucius's 'it flows on like this, never ceasing day or night.' Then the line opens outward: though generations pass like water, the emotion each generation feels gazing at the moon is the same. The individual is fleeting, yet human feeling endures.

唯愿当歌对酒时，月光长照金樽里。

化用曹操《短歌行》「对酒当歌，人生几何」，把形而上的追问拉回当下的欢宴。「金樽」是华美的酒器，月光照入杯中，是月与人最亲密的接触——既回应首句「停杯一问」，又完成了从问天到惜今的情感回环。以物我交融、光影相映作结，余味悠长。

Alluding to Cao Cao's 'singing before wine, how brief is life,' the poet pulls his metaphysical questioning back to the present feast. The 'golden cup' is a splendid wine vessel; moonlight falling into it is the moon's most intimate touch with man. This answers the opening 'I stop my cup and ask' and completes an emotional circle from questioning heaven to cherishing the hour.