在“三秋桂子，十里荷花”的金秋时节，我来到了杭州西湖，专门欣赏荷塘。我抵达的时候已是晚上，夜赏荷塘，别有一番情趣。

西湖的夜色，不同于别处，四周灯火如链，如明珠穿成了珠链，熠熠生辉，把西湖围成一个圈，而湖面上，点点渔火，三两只扁舟，摇曳在水光之中，仿佛是谁欲要“高擎明烛照红妆”，想揭开罩在美丽西子脸上的夜幕黑纱，看一看西子是如何的美，西子的秋波是怎样的妩媚动人。

接天莲叶无穷碧  老平 摄

我站在断桥上，远眺静静的湖，堤和映在湖光里的堤影，唯有徐志摩曾形容过的“清绝秀绝媚绝”可堪匹配，西湖真是理想的绝色美人。月亮升起来了，圆圆的明月，照耀在湖上，我想起徐志摩和胡适曾“拿舟玩月”，拿一只轻如秋叶的小舟，悄悄地滑上了夜湖的柔胸，拿一支轻如芦梗的小桨，幽幽地拍着她光润、蜜糯的芳容。这两位已故的大文人，当时存心要挑破她雾殻似的梦壳，扁着身子偷偷地挨进去，分尝她贪饮月光醉了的妙趣。如今，我也来了，我并不要如此急切地和西子亲近，而是来欣赏荷塘，因为荷塘是西子美丽的裙裾。“云想衣裳花想容”，我相信盛装的西子会更加楚楚动人。

桂花的香味弥散开来，浓浓的馨香，沁人心脾，桂花的香味弥漫在十里荷塘之上，增加了十里荷塘的迷人魅力。夜色中的荷塘，黑幽幽的。黑夜，给了荷塘黑色的秀发，秀发在波光中荡漾。微风拂来，一顶顶圆圆的荷叶，顺风摇动，有的荷叶圆边上卷，宛如发髻，给人以无限的遐想。水声涧涧，那是风穿过荷塘耸立的荷柄丛林，激荡起微涟，摇曳的荷叶，也加入了小夜曲的奏鸣，把卷叶子上的风鸣形成了低沉的哨音，长短断续地响起。月光渐渐地把荷叶染成了乳白色，也许是荷叶的蜡质反光，远远看去，彷佛美丽诱人的西子姑娘穿着圆斑点图案的花色裙裾向你袅袅走来。

接天莲叶无穷碧  老平 摄

西湖人，特意在荷塘里装上了彩灯，把荷叶与荷花照亮。在彩色灯光的映衬下，十里荷塘，五光十色，缤纷的色彩，成为西湖最炫目的焦点。此刻的我，沉醉在小夜曲的旋律之中，听桨破水的波声，听风动荷叶的涛声，看蓝的、红的、紫的、粉的、绿的、黄的荷花，“乱花渐欲迷人眼”，眼花缭乱，心醉如怡。宋代大诗人杨万里的诗句忽然跳荡在我的脑海：“接天莲叶无穷碧，映日荷花别样红。”如果，在月光下，把映日改为映月，也很贴切。接天的荷叶，组成了荷叶海涛，斑斓的灯光和月光照映着出水芙蓉。水光里宛如倒映的水彩画，现实中充满了仙境般魔幻迷离的荷塘画卷。

月亮渐渐沉在水底，我依然不忍离去。我似乎在与荷塘依依不舍地约会，时光过得飞快。直到红日东升，日光透过断桥的桥洞，映在水中，把西湖染成金色，波光潋滟，而十里荷塘沐浴在金色的日光里，绿色的莲叶连接天际，簇拥着岸边的垂柳和远处的小桥以及青黛的远山和宝塔，多美的一幅荷塘巨画，镶嵌在西湖之滇。荷塘是西湖美丽的裙裾，把西湖装点得更加妩媚迷人……

作者简介： 王永利，央视财经频道制片人，高级编辑，全国广电系统五一劳动奖章获得者、百优人才，获奖若干。出版书籍13本，出版英文文学书籍5部。

接天莲叶无穷碧  老平 摄

In the golden season of autumn, "the sweet-scented osmanthus and ten kilometers of lotus are in full bloom”, so I go to West Lake in Hangzhou with a special purpose, to appreciate the poetic lotus in the pond. It was in the middle of the night when I arrived at the bank. It was a different experience seeing the lotus in the pond on such a dark night.

The scenery of West Lake in the night is different from elsewhere. Around the bank, the streetlights become a pearly chain, shining brightly, like a giant necklace. In the lake, there are some small fishing boats with lamps, two or three, swaying in the shimmering waters, as if someone desires to “look at the beauty with a flaming lamp", as if they want to lift the black veil covering West lake’s face, to see how beautiful it is, and how charming a pair of bright eyes is that the girl has!

I stood on the famous historical Duanqiao Bridge, overlooking the quiet lake, its embankment and the dike shadow reflected in the water. The vocabularies used to describe West Lake and the fine scenery can be no more perfect than the words once used by Xu Zhimo: "delicate and pretty as well as comely”, for West Lake is really an ideal and rare beauty. The moon has risen, and its round full body floods its bright light on the lake. I remember that Xu Zhimo and Hu Shi would "take a boat to play in the moonlight" on the lake. They, on a little boat, which was as light as an autumn leaf, they quietly slipped over the soft chest of the lake at night. With a small oar, which was as light as a reed stalk, they gently patted her smooth, tender and sweet skin. The two drunk literati intended to prick her dream-like fog shell, to be secretly intimate with her, and try to share her interest in appreciating the moonlight. I have come here too, but I am not keen on being intimate with the beauty right now, I just want to enjoy the lotus pond, for the lotus are her lovely skirt. "Clouds would dress like Yung clothes and flowers want good looks", I believe the girl of West Lake, in her rich attire will be even more glamorous and elegant.

The fragrance of osmanthus spreads, and the thick sweetly scented aroma is gladdens my heart and refreshes my mind. The delicate smell over the ten kilometer lotus pond adds charm to the scenery. Night decorates the lotus pond with dark. It is as if night gives the lotus pond black hair, and the beautiful black hair is swaying in the rippling water. The breeze blows, and the round lotus leaves wave gently. I find some lotus leaves become edged-up, like a bun on a lady’s head, and they give me unlimited reverie. The sounds of water splash, while wind through the jungle-like lotus, stirs some small ripples. The swaying lotus leaves also join the serenading Sonata, and the wind on the edged-up leaves sounds like a low whistle, the length of the whistle is changeable and intermittent. The moonlights gradually dyes the lotus leaves white. Perhaps the waxed lotus leaves are reflective, so from a distance you might find that they appear more attractive, as if the girl of West Lake, wearing a beautiful polka dot skirt, has curled up to you.

The people of West Lake decorate the lotus pond with colourful lights especially to spotlight the flowers and leaves of lotus. Under the coloured lights the ten kilometers lotus pond is resplendent in its variegated colouration, and becomes the most dazzling pond in the West Lake. The moment I indulge in the serenade’s melody, enjoy the water’s paddling, and the songs of the waving leaves, my eyes focus on the blue, red, purple, pink, green, and yellow lotus. "So charming and colourful are the flowers to viewers’ eyes". I am in a haze. My heart mellows and I am completely relaxed and joyful. The lines of Song Dynasty poet Wanli Yang suddenly jump into my mind: "Lotus leaves are like green jade as far as one can see, and lotus flowers are especially red under the sun". I think, in both the moonlit and under the colourful lamps, the lotus are brilliant, and so the lines are still very appropriate to the scenery. The vast lotus leaves are countless, and form a sea of plants. The colourful lights and the moonlit make the water-lilies more appealing. The shadow of the flowers in the water look like a watercolour painting, while in reality it is a fairy-magic-blurred lotus scroll.

The moon gradually sinks into the bottom of the lake, but I still cannot bear to leave. It seems to be reluctant to part with the lotus pond and me. On such a date, time flies before one knows it. Until the red sun rises, I find that the sunlight through the Duanqiao Bridge’s arch is reflected in the water, and the surface of West Lake becomes blonde and sparkly. While the ten kilometer of the lotus pond are bathed in the golden sunlight, the green lotus leaves seem connected to the sky, surrounding the shore, the bridge, the green mountains and a pagoda. How splendid a giant painting of a lotus pond it is, it is as if an emerald is embedded in the West Lake. The lotus pond is the beautiful skirt of West Lake, and with it the lake looks more charming……