Presented to the Gentlemen of the Inner Chancellery — Min Sik (閔湜), Right Cavalier Attendant-in-Ordinary呈內省諸郞。 上右散騎常侍閔湜
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 · 99 Chinese characters · reading time 1.2 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.
A house of office through the generations hands down its lineage,
and the line came out of the goodness of the Marquis of Fei (費侯).
Two branches like orchid and jade stand out,
and the rainbow runs on in a single breath.
Together you walk the cloud-ladder on level ground,
and by turns you moved each other through the immortals' Department (省).
The tree carries on its generations — cockerels new and old;
Heaven has divided them — wild geese before and behind.
The sable on the right is the greatest glory of all;
and the favor of the side carriage — how is it so inclined?
With threads of five colors you mend the dragon robe,
and eyes of three strands enter into the writing.
When the iron is poured you leave it to leap as it will,
and you help the wings to soar on high.
Loving that a way be made for those below,
presumptuously I come before you bearing jade.
The awl in the bag, early or late, will show itself;
how should a fan of white silk be cast aside midway?
How much more, having carried on the good fortune of a bond thin as reed-skin,
do I lean all my life upon that slight connection.
Interlinear notes 2
弟爲承宣。
His younger brother became a Royal Transmitter (承宣).
今年。省郞皆遷。舍弟出省。公繼入。
This year the Gentlemen of the Department (省) were all moved: his younger brother went out of the Department and the Duke came in after him.