多少年來一直想去杜甫草堂這個文學圣地拜謁“詩圣”，然而由于方方面面的原因未能成行。直到最近，當我浪跡天涯幾十年之后回到四川故鄉(xiāng)，終于了結這個夙愿。一大早起來，便興沖沖驅車向草堂趕去。

從四川崇州驅車80公里來到杜甫草堂，首先映入眼簾的是一條彎彎環(huán)環(huán)宛若玉帶的溪流。溪邊“風含翠筱娟娟凈，雨紅蕖冉冉香”。呵，這就是浣花溪，一個多么美麗而幽靜的地方!

在浣花溪瑩瑩綠水的映帶下，一堵粉壁青瓦的巨型照壁聳立眼前，讓人一看，一股莊嚴肅穆之氣油然而生。正門匾額上筆力遒勁的“草堂”兩字，是清代康熙皇帝第十七子果親王允禮的手筆。步入正門，但見園內古木參天、竹樹掩映，穿過綠樹叢中的幾座亭臺樓榭，只見一座敞廳式的建筑露出了身影，這就是位于草堂中軸線上的大廨?！扳荨保f時稱為官署，亦即古時官吏的辦公所在。之所以將這里命名為廨，主要是考慮到杜甫“窮年憂黎元”，其愛國憂民之心至死不渝。他雖然沒當過幾天官，但死后總該有個辦公之處。出于象征意義，清代在重修草堂時終于將這里起名為“大廨”，此中內涵非常清楚地隱喻著人們對這位愛國詩人的良好心愿，大廨內的楹聯(lián)多得令人數(shù)不勝數(shù)、目不暇接。特別值得一提的是，老一輩無產階級革命家葉劍英在此撰有書聯(lián)：“杜陵落筆傷豺虎，愛國孤薄斗牛。”張愛萍書集杜句所寫的聯(lián)為：“挺身艱難際，張目視寇仇。”高度評價了杜甫愛國憂民的思想情懷和其鮮明的現(xiàn)實主義精神。出大廨幾十步，就來到草堂的主廳——“詩史堂”，堂名冠為“詩史”，乃源于孟的《本書詩》中說的一段話：“杜(甫)逢(安)祿山之難，流離隴蜀。畢陳于詩，推見至隱，殆無遺事，故當時號為‘詩史’?！边@是說杜甫身逢“安史之亂”，顛沛流離，居無定所，日子過得異常艱辛。他將自己看到的社會現(xiàn)實、所感所嘆的民怨國恨、所思所想的輔君中興等全部用詩歌的形式記載下來，致使后人讀其詩猶如讀到了一部活生生的唐朝興衰史。

建國以后新中國領導人毛澤東、鄧小平等均訪問過草堂，尤其是鄧小平五次到草堂訪問，他說：“沒到過草堂，就等于沒到過成都?！惫试娛诽昧粝轮T多領導人和名人撰寫的對聯(lián)。朱德1957年參觀草堂時寫下的“草堂留后世，詩圣著千秋。”充分體現(xiàn)了一位偉大的革命家對杜甫的崇敬和對草堂勝跡的熱愛。堂內還有陳毅書集杜句聯(lián)“新松恨不高千尺，惡竹應須斬萬竿”。以及郭沫若撰寫的書聯(lián)：“世上瘡痍，詩中圣哲；民間疾苦，筆底波瀾。”前者表達了陳老總大無畏的英雄氣概和嫉惡如仇的性格；后者則對杜詩憂國憂民的思想內容作了高度的概括。

詩史堂之后的“柴門”是草堂內的第四重建筑，門前清溪潺潺流過，小小石拱橋橫跨溪上，看上去頗有“小橋流水人家”的意味?！安耖T”原本是杜甫營建草堂時所造的院門，因簡樸低矮而得名。不過柴門雖然簡樸卻給詩人平添了許多生活方面的樂趣：“花徑不曾緣客掃，蓬門(即柴門)今始為君開。”(《客至》)，可知詩人在這里平日閉門幽居，只有當朋友來訪時才打開柴門迎客；“白沙翠竹江村暮，相送柴門月色新。”(《南鄰》)，從這首詩看得出詩人與鄰居關系十分融洽，每將客人送別于柴門時總是戀戀不舍。今日的柴門與其他建筑相比，相對而言實在是簡樸得不能再簡樸，但比這當年詩人所建的柴門卻又堂皇富麗得多。門前匾額“柴門”兩字為著名畫家潘天壽先生所書；門柱上的對聯(lián)“萬丈光芒，信有文章驚海內；千年艷慕，猶勞車馬駐江干?！笔敲魅撕斡疃燃枚啪渌?。正因為杜甫給我們留下了成就極高、震動海內外的不朽篇章，千百年來不知贏得了多少中外名流的尊崇和傾慕。園內杜甫畫像石刻、草堂石刻、杜甫詩集版本、研究杜甫的各種史料以及歷代名家的墨寶字畫極為豐富，館藏數(shù)量達數(shù)千件之多。

穿過園內小徑，見竹樹叢中隱隱露出一座竹籬笆墻、茅草頂、黃泥涂壁穿逗式結構的典型農居，農居的周圍是菜園、藥圃和水塘，整個建筑古樸中透露出濃濃的文化色彩，這就是1997年2月落成的茅屋景區(qū)，其設計布局完全是根據(jù)杜詩“青江一曲抱春流，長夏江村事事幽?！?《江村》)“舍南舍北皆春水，但見群鷗日日來?！?《客至》)等句意開鑿而成的寫意景點。從茅屋的主景向西望去，有山石飛瀑與之呼應，這是根據(jù)杜詩“窗含西嶺千秋雪”的意境而營造的“西嶺”。

就在我懷著濃濃的游興看著這幢農居之時，突然聽見吱丫的一聲門響，此時忽見身著唐裝、頭扎綸巾的杜甫從茅屋內走了出來，他指袖捋須，踱著方步來到屋檐下似在沉思，再朝里探頭一看，又忽見杜夫人正端坐床頭縫補衣物，他們的一雙兒女正在對棋嬉戲……呵，此情此景好似穿越歷史的時空夢回唐朝!

其實這只是杜甫草堂“人日”活動安排的對杜甫漂泊成都時那種寧靜生活的情景演繹。接著，主辦方啟動了造雪機，霎時漫天瑞雪紛紛揚揚、飄飄灑灑地降落下來，在古典音樂的襯托下，忽見我國的著名學者、詩人蘇叔陽緩步登場，用他那極富磁性的嗓音、抑揚頓挫、聲情并茂地朗誦了杜甫的詩篇，把杜甫詩歌中的“魂”詮釋得淋漓盡致；接著來自各文藝團體的舞蹈家們又分別以冬、春、夏、秋四季場景交替來演繹杜甫的思、悲、憂、憤人生經(jīng)歷，讓人們思緒萬千……

杜甫祖籍湖北襄陽(今襄樊市)，祖父杜審言是武則天時代的繕部員外郎，是一位與沈期、宋之問齊名的詩人；父親杜閑曾任兗州司馬，奉天縣令。正統(tǒng)的儒家文化教養(yǎng)加之追求仕途事業(yè)和書香門第鑄就了杜甫的人生軌跡。杜甫自幼聰慧，七歲能詩，十四五歲便“出游翰墨場”，與文士們交游酬唱，20歲起游歷各地，飽覽了祖國的壯麗河山，公元746年，杜甫西入長安想得到施展抱負的機會，他相信自己能“致君堯舜上，再使風俗淳”?？上Ч賵鲭U惡，滯留長安一再碰壁，后來戰(zhàn)亂的漩渦把他卷入到顛沛流離的人群中，使他深深了解到統(tǒng)治階級的腐化和丑惡嘴臉，親眼目睹了老百姓的貧困和艱辛，心頭充滿了憂國憂民思想。公元755年“安史之亂”爆發(fā)后，杜甫逃往鳳翔投奔肅宗，拜為左拾遺，后因上疏申救房觸怒肅宗被貶華州。杜甫于公元759年冬暮棄官西行，流落蜀中，在浣花溪畔搭建茅屋而居，總算有了個棲身之所。公元760年至765年流亡四川三臺閬中一帶，后出峽東下，公元770年病逝于湘江舟中，年僅59歲。他一生為我們留下了1400多首絕妙華章，對中國文學的發(fā)展產生了深遠的影響。

Pilgrimage to the Thatched Cottage

By Gan Aidan

I had long since wanted to make my pilgrimage to Du Fu's Thatched Cottage in Chengdu， where the great poet of the Tang Dynasty (618-907) resided in his self-imposed exile during the chaotic years of a revolt. My dream did not come true until recently when I visited my home in Sichuan province after spending decades of years traveling foot-loose.

I had the yearning for a reason. Du Fu is one of China's greatest poets. Born into a scholars' family， he was able to compose poems at 7. He began to tour the country at 20. Like his grandfather and father， who were both government officials， the young Du Fu harbored political ambitions and wanted a place to display his talents for the country. In 746 he came to Chang'an， capital of the dynasty. But his dreams were spoiled there. In 755 a rebellion broke out. He followed the emperor to flee and later joined the emperor. He was appointed to a minor position at the court in exile. But he was demoted after he presented a memorial that angered the emperor. In 759 he resigned from office and began his westward journey to Sichuan. These years were hard for the poet. He drifted homeless from place to place. His poems recorded the social upheaval of the times， portrayed the dark social realities， and his stubborn ambition for getting the country back to prosperity. For this reason， the poet is known to later generations as the sage of poetry and poet historian， the only one with such a posthumous fame in an empire of poetry over thousands of years. His works of that time depict the vicissitudes before and during those tumultuous years of the Tang Dynasty.After four years' sojourn at the thatched cottage， Du left Sichuan Province and journeyed eastward on the Yangtze River as the revolt drew painfully to a close. In 770 he died in a boat on the Xiang River at age 59. In his lifetime the poet composed more than 1，400 brilliant poems. They have been regarded as the timeless treasure of the Chinese literature and have greatly influenced poets ever since.

Though still called the thatched cottage after all the centuries， the site is now home to a magnificent memorial structure in a large garden. The memorial structure is so magnificent that it has four rows of halls connected by walled courtyards. The latest large-scale refurbishment program was done in 1997. The front gate has an inscription written in calligraphy by a prince in the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911). The memorial was rebuilt like an official residence. Though Du Fu was only a minor official in the government for a short while， he was given a large office on the memorial compound in honor of his thwarted dedication to working for the country.After a restoration program in the Qing Dynasty， the office was officially named as a government office.

After the People's Republic of China was founded in 1949， state leaders including Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping visited the Thatched Cottage on various occasions. Today， many inscriptions by modern top leaders can be seen there. The cottage serves as a repository of materials concerning the all-time poet， including stone carvings， poetry collections in various editions， academic studies on the poet and his art contribution， numerous inscriptions and paintings by literary and art celebrities over centuries. Pieces collected and stored at the memorial amount to thousands.

The Thatched Cottage itself is hidden behind bamboos and trees in one corner of the garden accessible by a small path. The cottage， redesigned and built in 1997 based on descriptions in the poet's poems， is surrounded by a vegetable plot， an herb plot， and a pound. On the west side of the cottage is a rockery with a waterfall， another add-on based on one of his most famous poems. In 759， Du Fu built a two-room bunkhouse topped with a thatch.

My visit that day coincided with a grand celebration of the poet's life and poetry at the cottage. A scholar of national renown recited some of Du Fu's poems. Dancers interpreted the poet's life and emotions through scenes of the four seasons.

(Translated by David)