On the Fourteenth of the Eighth Month, Enjoying the Moon and Asking My Guests八月十四日。翫月問客。
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 · 79 Chinese characters · reading time 0.8 min
Dongguk Isangguk Jip (Collected Works of Minister Yi of the Eastern Country) Former Collection, Book 10 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.
To enjoy the moon it must be the full moon,
so we ought to set it for tomorrow.
But cloud and clearing cannot be reckoned,
and asking the moon, the moon too does not know.
By what shall I settle my hesitation?
I ask with yarrow stalks between my fingers.
At first I got Seupgam (習坎),
and after four changes it went to I (頤).
Drinking and eating may still be hoped for,
but the images of thunder and water give cause for doubt.
If we knew that tomorrow it would rain,
what would be lost by making merry tonight?
I told this to my guests and friends,
and all said it was right, with no word against it.
Before we had even set out the cups,
the white Chang'e (嬫娥) ▣ came and peeped in.