Presented to the Gentlemen of the Inner Chancellery — Yun Wi (尹威), Gentleman of the Imperial Diary呈內省諸郞。 上起居郞尹威
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 · 100 Chinese characters · reading time 1.1 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 hidden bearing of the Pass Warden (關令) reaches far,
and, being a descendant of immortals, your lofty will is fair.
From the first you had no longing caught upon the seal-cord,
and took it sweetly to go far off toward the water and the clouds.
You loved to drink the dew of the green pine,
and coveted sleeping in the glow of the blue peaks.
A pearl's light can hardly hide itself,
and the ring of gold is not far off in the end.
Your wings ride upon the ease of the wind,
and your writing lights up the splendor of the state.
Lord Kan (闞公) had his name upon the moon,
and Li Taibai had flowers come forth from his brush.
In affairs you have known the arm broken three times,
and in talent you surpass him who crossed his hands eight times.
Your upright words often turn the silk over,
and the public trust in you befits a carriage held alone.
With words you argue out the horns of a cock,
and the nobility of the turtle's markings is worth your boast.
A guest at your gate, clear as ice,
I rejoice greatly to be made one of the household (通家).
Interlinear notes 1
公初爲碧松居士。
The Duke at first called himself the Green Pine Hermit (碧松居士).