Yetgeul › Dongguk Isangguk Jip (Collected Works of Minister Yi of the Eastern Country) › Former Collection, Book 9

Given to the Magistrate of Imsil County贈任實郡宰

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 · 56 Chinese characters · reading time 0.6 min

Dongguk Isangguk Jip (Collected Works of Minister Yi of the Eastern Country) Former Collection, Book 9 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.

珍重先生政似神。一方歌頌腐民脣。年豐野壟嘉禾合。訟息公庭碧草新。莫憶銅龍曾接虎。不妨銀兔暫纏身。完山幕客誠無狀。腥臭空慙衊善隣。

Precious it is — your governing, sir, that seems as though divine; one whole region sings and praises you till the people's lips wear through. The year is bountiful, and on the field ridges the fine grain comes together; lawsuits have ceased, and in the office courtyard the green grass is new. Do not think back on the days you faced the tiger at the Bronze Dragon Gate (銅龍門); no harm if the silver hare winds about you for a while. The aide of Wansan (完山) is truly of no account, and is ashamed to have fouled a good neighbour with his rank smell in vain.

Interlinear notes 1

自東宮侍學出宰。

He went out from being Companion in Study (侍學) to the Eastern Palace and became a county magistrate.