The first couplet uses the rhetorical technique of asking questions and answering questions.
It also describes the scene of spending New Year's Eve alone outside, but this poem is mainly written through a cold lantern. Specifically: "Who cares about the hotel? The cold lamp is so friendly." The sentence is abrupt, but it makes sense. On New Year's Eve, thousands of families were reunited, but I was still busy in officialdom, traveling, and staying alone in a post house. Sitting there for a long night without anyone around me, no one comes to ask about the cold or warmth. There is no one to be close to, and now there is only a cold lamp, flickering for company. "Who is asking?" The questioning tone can better highlight the traveler's misery and injustice. "Cold lanterns" point out the cold weather at the end of the year, and also bring out the loneliness and desolation of the poet's homesickness.
When the lights are facing each other, you will naturally think of the embarrassing situation in front of you: "The night is about to end, and no one has returned home thousands of miles away." The sentence clearly points out the "New Year's Eve" in the title, and the couplet reveals that we are thousands of miles away from our loved ones. feeling.