Matching the Rhymes of the Poem That Vice Minister Yi Misu (李眉叟) Sent to Erudite Gwon Gyeongjung (權敬仲), Rebuking Him for Abstaining from Grain次韻李侍郎眉叟寄權博士敬仲責辟糓
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 · 3 passages · 84 Chinese characters · reading time 0.8 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.
1The first poem
孔聖曾無寸土封。三千門弟競攀龍。在陳絶粒眞飢矣。誰見當時肯餌松。
Confucius too had not an inch of land enfeoffed to him,
yet three thousand disciples vied to cling to the dragon.
In Chen (陳) his grain was cut off and he was truly hungry,
but who ever saw that he fed on pine in that time?
Interlinear notes 1
三首
There are three poems.
2The second poem
相君骨法貴當封。何必求仙要跨龍。飽食酣眠邀好夢。待看便腹忽生松。
Your bone and feature are noble, and enfeoffment ought surely to come;
why must you seek out the immortals and try to ride the dragon?
Eat your fill, sleep soundly, and meet with good dreams,
and wait and see whether pine will suddenly spring from your well-filled belly.
3The third poem
我生嗜酒麴成封。醉欲炮麟更膾龍。何事權君長辟糓。忍敎形貌瘦於松。
My life has loved wine, and the yeast has made my fief;
when drunk I would roast the girin (麒麟) and slice the dragon raw besides.
For what cause does Master Gwon forever abstain from grain,
bearing to make his form leaner than a pine?