On the Fifteenth of the Ninth Month, Leaving Sangju九月十五日。發尙州。
Dongguk Isangguk Jip (Collected Works of Minister Yi of the Eastern Country) 東國李相國集 · Yi Gyubo · Compiled 1241 (Goryeo, 28th year of King Gojong); revised and enlarged 1251 · 1 passages · 80 Chinese characters · reading time 0.9 min
Dongguk Isangguk Jip (Collected Works of Minister Yi of the Eastern Country) Former Collection, Book 6 The collected writings of Yi Gyubo of Goryeo, gathered and cut in woodblock by his son Yi Ham in 1241 and revised and enlarged by his grandson Yi Ikbae in 1251. It holds poems and rhapsodies, memorials and reports sent up to the king, records written for temples and pagodas, stele and tomb inscriptions, letters and prefaces, and the state letters that passed to and from the Mongols during the invasions. The Lay of King Dongmyeong, which sings the founder of Goguryeo, stands in volume 3 of the first collection, and the daily life of a man who called himself the White Cloud Layman — with his wine, his zither and his verse — fills the later collection. The book closes with the last poem he wrote as his eyes failed and he laid down the brush, and with the dirge and tomb inscription others made for him after his death.
There are still a few stars twinkling
as I rise at dawn after the crows and magpies.
A traveler's bowels digest the thin wine;
sick eyes swim at the cold lamp.
My traveling gear is like a country old man's,
my bundle like a wandering monk's.
The plan to go back to my fields is not accomplished,
and the longing for the palace is hard to overcome.
In fleeing the world I fall short of Gao Feng (高鳳);
in knowing the signs I yield to Ji Ying (季鷹).
The dew lies deep, and the horns of my headcloth droop;
the wind is strong, and my sleeves stand out in corners.
On the stone plank road the frost is heavy still,
and over the cloudy cliff the sun has not yet climbed.
The two streams of tears with which I took leave of my parents
still wet my breast though I have come to the pass.