On the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, the flower market is brightly lit.
The moon rose to the willow tree, and he met me at dusk.
On the Lantern Festival on the fifteenth day of the first month of this year, the moonlight and lights are still the same as last year.
I will never see my old friend last year again, and my tears are soaked through my clothes.
Translation:
On the night of the Lantern Festival last year, the bustling market was brightly lit, as if it were daytime. I will never forget the day when we agreed to meet quietly at dusk. I still remember a bright moon hanging quietly on the branches of willow trees.
This year's Lantern Festival night, the moon is as bright as last year, and the lights are as brilliant as last year. It's just that you're not in the crowd watching the lights and enjoying the moon. I felt sad in my heart, and tears soaked the sleeves of the white spring shirt.
Source: The Outline of the Birth of Yuan Dynasty by Ouyang Xiu in the Northern Song Dynasty.
Poetry appreciation
This word successfully uses the method of contrast, putting two moments and two scenes separated by one year together. In this way, time is the same, willow shadows are the same, moonlight is the same, and there is only one difference-people.
There are similarities and differences in this contrast, but it is in this "similarity" that this huge "difference" is truly described and rendered, which makes people feel deeply. The language of this word is fluent, simple and plain, but it is also meaningful, leaving endless room for imagination.