E53 悼孤坟伊人尘缘尽，空断肠回首泪偷零

E53 悼孤坟伊人尘缘尽，空断肠回首泪偷零

课程导读

上节课我们讲到，苏东坡的长姐经历了不幸的婚姻，这也导致苏程两家关系的紧张；此外，我们还了解到在民间故事里亦真亦假的苏小妹。今天，我们将进入第三章的末尾，走进苏东坡人生中一段有缘无份的初恋。这段爱情故事经历了什么样的波折？里面又蕴含着哪些中国传统习俗呢？

英文原文

Tungpo, however, had a younger cousin-sister, who was his first love, and for whom he showed very tender feelings till the end of his days.

She was his first cousin on the father's side.

When his grandfather died, Tungpo's father returned from his trip abroad, and so also did his uncle with his family, to attend the funeral ceremony.

The cousins therefore had much chance of seeing and playing with one another.

According to Tungpo she was "good and intelligent and kind."

Since they both bore the same family name, marriage was out of the question, as would not have been the case had she been a first cousin on the mother's side—that is, had she borne a different family name.

In time, the cousin was married to one Liu Chungyuan.

Later, in his travels, Tungpo had occasion to visit her at Chinkiang at her home for three months.

During his stay he wrote two poems that are difficult to explain except as love poems addressed to her.

No writer of the period and no research student of Su Tungpo's life ever mentioned this special relationship, because no one would.

However, when he was living in exile in his old age and heard of this cousin's death, he wrote to her son that he felt as if "a knife had been thrust into his heart."

After his return from exile, when he was passing through Chinkiang where her grave lay, he made an effort, though he was very sick at the time, to go and sacrifice to her spirit and the spirit of her husband.

The day after, when some friends went to call on him, he was found to be lying in bed and shaking with sobs, with his face turned toward the wall.