On the Next Day, Climbing Hwanbyeok Pavilion (環碧亭) with Two or Three Companions, Viewing the Royal Chamber as Well, Then Returning to the Side Hall for a Little Wine, Using Lord Su's (蘇公) Rhymes明日與二三子登環碧亭。又閱御室。還至別閣小酌。用蘇公詩韻。
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 · 90 Chinese characters · reading time 1 min
Dongguk Isangguk Jip (Collected Works of Minister Yi of the Eastern Country) Former Collection, Book 8 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.
The place where three courts came to roam and gaze:
the mountain stands like jade, all of one color.
On the painted pillars dragons and serpents cling;
the tiered galleries are lovely in gold and blue-green.
Now it has been left to men of leisure —
how many times did Ruan Fu (阮孚) feed his clogs with wax?
The royal carriage — where is it, far away?
I mourn the things of old, and am sad and trembling.
The stone cut with seal script lies in blue moss,
stained by rain and scorched red by the sun.
I have come and sought out all that lies hidden;
surely there must be a house of spirits and holy ones.
A clear debt is amply worth the repaying;
why trouble to dig into what is past?
One jar is not yet tipped out to the end,
and the round sun has already leaned to the west.
Good gatherings, too, are not many;
as we turn home the darkening clouds come on black.