夫(fú)人之相与，俯仰一世。或取诸怀抱，悟言一室之内;或因寄所托，放浪形骸之外。虽趣(qǔ)舍万殊，静躁不同，当其欣于所遇，暂得于己，快然自足，不知老之将至;及其所之既倦，情随事迁，感慨系之矣。向之所欣，俯仰之间，已为陈迹，犹不能不以之兴怀，况修短随化，终期于尽!古人云：“死生亦大矣”，岂不痛哉!
Every time I ponder about the reasons why our predecessors would produce works with such inenarrable emotions, I find there seem some similarities between our minds. Yet I cannot help lamenting their literary masterpieces while I am struggling for the very cause in my innermost world. Now I come to realize that it has been ridiculous for me to equate death with life, long life with short life . The descendents view us just the way we look at our predecessors, and how woeful it is! Hence I write down all the names of the attendees and put their poetry into record. Conditions may go with the changes of time, but people’s emotions shall stay the same. I believe the following readers will still have much to mediate about life and death when appreciating this poetry anthology.
每览昔人兴感之由，若合一契，未尝不临文嗟悼(jiē dào)，不能喻之于怀。固知一死生为虚诞，齐彭殇(shāng)为妄作。后之视今，亦犹今之视昔，悲夫!故列叙时人，录其所述，虽世殊事异，所以兴怀，其致一也。后之览者，亦将有感于斯文。
