Thanking Choe Jongbeon of the Cheonwon (天院) for Sending Dried Mutton to Be Offered to My Sick Mother謝崔天院宗藩惠羊羓饋病母
舊聞至孝天可動。紅鱗躍氷笋生凍。我有孀親鶴髮垂。晨昏甘旨猶難奉。病脇沾床僅一春。病中嗜好日千種。鮮羹腥膾何足數。下筯未終還欲吐。今朝辦膳問所安。却猒邾莒要齊魯。雲奔電走覓四方。倉卒難邀髥主簿。欲呼元放急捉致。屈膝老羝那忍視。讀書曾恨多岐亡。學道何由叱石起。千搜萬索竟難獲。環顧空期慕羶蟻。崔公眞是純孝人。愛親欲及人之親。遺之一羓燕土羞。絶勝熊掌與狌脣。入手紅肌隨刃落。券韛兼獻甕頭春。因知愛我情義篤。薦擢行將五羖贖。從此平生免角羸。但嗟流景如胛熟。作章欲謝先自愁。錯寫蹲鴟資捧腹。
I have heard from of old that utmost filial love moves Heaven: red carp leapt out of the ice, bamboo shoots rose from the frozen ground. I have a widowed parent whose crane-white hair hangs down, yet morning and evening it is hard to set savory things before her. Her ailing side has been pressed to the couch barely one spring, and in her sickness what she craves is a thousand things a day. Fresh soups and raw fish — how could they all be counted? Before she has done touching the chopsticks she would bring it up again. This morning, preparing her dish, I asked whether she was at ease; instead she loathes Zhu (邾) and Ju (莒) and asks for Qi (齊) and Lu (魯). Running like cloud and leaping like lightning I searched all four quarters, but on such short notice the bearded Clerk (主簿) is hard to summon. I would call Zuo Yuanfang (左元放) and have him seize one in haste, yet how could I bear to watch an old ram bend its knees? Reading books, I long regretted losing my way where the roads forked; and though I studied the Way, by what means could I scold a stone and raise it up? A thousand searches, ten thousand rummagings, and still it is hard to get, so I look about and vainly make a date with ants that long for the rank smell. Lord Choe is truly a pure and filial son, whose love for a parent would reach even to another's parent. He has sent one dried mutton, the relish of the land of Yan (燕), far better than a bear's paw or an orangutan's lips. Taken in hand, the red flesh falls away after the blade; he opens the sack and offers the spring wine atop the jar besides. From this I know how thick are his feeling and duty in loving me, and his recommending and choosing me will be an atonement of five ramskins. From now on I shall be spared a lifetime of thinning horns, and only sigh that the flowing years run as fast as shoulder-meat cooks. Setting out to write my thanks, I first grow sorrowful of myself, and writing "taro" by mistake I give them cause to hold their bellies and laugh.