The full poem of "The color of grass looks far away but is not there" is as follows:

In early spring, Zhang Shiba of the Ministry of Water (Part 1)

Author: Han Yu Year: Tang Dynasty

The light rain on Tianjie is as moist as butter, and the color of grass looks far away but not up close. The most beautiful thing about spring is that it is better than smoke and willows all over the imperial capital.

In this little poem, the poet only uses simple words to describe the unique scenery of early spring using the common "light rain" and "grass color". The depiction is delicate, the sentences are beautiful, and the conception is novel, giving people a sense of moist, comfortable and fresh beauty in early spring. It expresses the author's love and praise for spring.

Appreciation:?

This little poem is a seven-character quatrain written to Zhang Ji, a member of the Ministry of Water Resources, describing and praising the beautiful scenery of early spring. Zhang Ji is the eighteenth among his brothers, so he is called Zhang Shiba. The style of the poem is fresh and natural, almost colloquial. It seems ordinary, but in fact it is anything but ordinary. Han Yu himself said that hardship and poverty often lead to mediocrity.

It turns out that his mediocrity was hard-won. The first sentence refers to the light rain in early spring, describing its smoothness and moistness as "as moist as crisp", accurately capturing its characteristics. The sentences are fresh and beautiful. It is similar to Du Fu's "Good rain knows the season, and spring will happen. Sneak into the night with the wind, moistening things silently".

The second sentence follows the first sentence and describes the scene after the grass is wet with rain. From a distance, it appears to be there, but up close, it is invisible. It depicts the hazy scene of the grass in early spring after the rain. It describes the characteristics of the spring grass when it just sprouts, vague, sparse, and short. It can be compared with Wang Wei's "Seeing nothingness in the green mist" and "Seeing nothingness in the color of mountains".

The third and fourth sentences greatly praise the scenery of early spring: "The most beautiful thing about spring is that it is better than the smoke and willows all over the imperial capital." These two sentences mean that the light rain and the color of grass in early spring are the most beautiful in spring. Something far beyond the decaying late spring scenery of the city full of smoke and willows.

Poems about spring scenery are mostly based on the bright late spring in Tang poetry, but this poem is based on the early spring chant, believing that the scenery in early spring is superior to that in late spring, and is unique. The first two sentences' detailed observation of the scenery is already commendable, and the last two sentences are even more unexpected, like the sudden arrival of cavalry.