王国维在《红楼楚评论》中云：欲达解脱之域者，固不可不尝人世之忧患。而人世之忧患，又是与生俱来的，王国维饱尝忧患而无法解脱，故彷徨无着，难以心安。此诗亦光绪三十年秋初到苏州时作。

《欲觅》 王国维

欲觅吾心已自难，更从何处把心安？
诗缘病辍弥无赖，忧与生来讵有端。
起看月中霜万瓦，卧闻风里竹千竿。
沧浪亭北君迁树，何限栖鸦噪暮寒！

To Try to Find

To try to find my heart, it's hard enough;
How could I hold it in tranquility?
Illness impedes poetry, and all I feel is useless;
Sorrow comes from birth, not without cause.
I rise to watch, in the moonlight, frost on ten thousand roof tiles;
I lie down hearing, in the wind, a thousand spears of bamboo.
North of Ts'ang-lang Pavilion, a huge date tree (1)—
Ceaseless, the cawing of crows in the evening cold.
(1) Chun-ch'ien shu, Diospyros Lotus, is a variety of date tree, the fruits of which are sometimes used to make varnish.