《小芥菜三百首》许久没有收中国古诗词了。前两天出门远足，看了些幽谷晚枫的山景，吹了点“天气初肃”的寒风，才想起收一首王安石同学的《桂枝香》。顺带附一幅相关的书法，供小芥菜观赏。

王 安石 桂枝香 登临送目， 正故国晚秋， 天气初肃。 千里澄江似练， 翠峰如簇。 归帆去棹斜阳里， 背西风， 酒旗斜矗。 彩舟云淡， 星河鹭起， 画图难足。 念往昔、繁华兑逐， 叹门外楼头， 悲恨相续。 千古凭高， 对此漫嗟荣辱。 六朝旧事如流水， 但寒烟、衰草凝绿。 至今商女，时时犹唱，后庭遗曲。

伟大的社会主义改革家王安石同学当时任南京市委书记，重阳节与一众文化工作者出游，竞相歌颂祖国大好秋光，而王书记拿出来的作品就是这篇雅俗共赏的《桂枝 香》。俗如我者，亦能体味个中壮美；雅如王书记的毕生政敌、自由主义经济学家苏东坡同志，看了这首作品之后也感叹说“此老乃野狐精也！” 可 见惺惺相惜之意。

王书记当时正处于个人政治生命的上升期，虽然主旨有悲秋的内容，但那种指点江山的意气风发仍然能从那些“千里澄江似练”“彩舟云淡，星河 鹭起”的意象中透露出来。作此诗后两年，王同学就被提拔成国务院总理，开始他在农业信贷、农村税收和价格管制等多方面雄心勃勃的一揽子改革计划。他的改革努力被黄仁宇称为提前了一千年进行的公共财政现代化尝试。然而在非社科专业的现代人当中，王偶一为之的《桂枝香》却远比他倾注毕生心血的财政改革有影响得多，这也就是文人聊以自慰的一个借口吧。

The World Was Warm and White When I Was Born

The world was warm and white when I was born:
Beyond the windowpane the world was white,
A glaring whiteness in a leaded frame,
Yet warm as in the hearth and heart of light.

当我呱呱坠地
世界温暖而洁白

从铅框的窗户外望
炫目一片琼瑶
而煊暖如灯

Although the whiteness was almond and was bone
In midnight’s still paralysis, nevertheless
The world was warm and hope was infinite
All things would come, fulfilled, all things would be known
All things would be enjoyed, fulfilled, and come to be my own.

环宇温暖 希望无限
尽管午夜的僵死苍白如杏
惨白如骨

一切都将降临 都将实现
一切谜底都将揭晓

一切都将被享受 被呈现
一一化为我有

（下面的实在不好翻译了，先留半边吧）

How like a summer the years of youth have passed!
—How like the summer of 1914, in all truth!—
Patience, my soul, the truth is never known
Until the future has become the past

And then, only, when the love of truth at last
Becomes the truth of love, when both are one,
Then, then, then, Eden becomes Utopia and is surpassed:
For then the dream of knowledge and knowledge knows
Motive and joy at once wherever it goes.