Matching the Rhymes on Yi Jeong, the Editorial Clerk (校書), Sending Me Water Dropwort次韻李程校書惠芹。
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 · 2 passages · 112 Chinese characters · reading time 1.3 min
Dongguk Isangguk Jip (Collected Works of Minister Yi of the Eastern Country) Former Collection, Book 14 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.
In this life I have long known how to be sated with the sour and the cold,
yet of late even herbs have been rather hard to come by.
A splendid letter for no reason lights up my jar-window,
and you throw me a rare thing, not stopping at a gift of pearls and bamboo baskets.
You cherish it as the man who would offer the king the pleasure of warming his back,
and its taste is better than boiled fish, ample for a relish with rice.
The stalks left after the cutting grow up again under your hand,
so do not forget from time to time to moisten my dry liver once more.
A platter full of green jade, received cold,
I prize two and three times over, and the kindness is hard to repay.
Washing off the green mud, I now boil it in the pot,
and the red millet comes cooked, just filling the bamboo basket.
Why should I think the water-shield of Wu is good in autumn?
As for eating the chrysanthemums of Chu at evening, that much may be put by.
From now on I shall not trouble Anyi (安邑) again,
for this is far better than a fat pig sending its liver day after day.