Roaming to Manilsa (萬日寺) with the Reverend Hyeon, Matching the Rhymes on the Wall與玄上人遊萬日寺。次壁上韻。
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 · 96 Chinese characters · reading time 1 min
Dongguk Isangguk Jip (Collected Works of Minister Yi of the Eastern Country) Former Collection, Book 15 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
遙峯毫較細。遠舶芥分微。夕瘴尤添熱。秋雲好翳暉。巖高猿易苦。林靜鳥猶稀。吟久難迴馬。從敎露濕衣。
The far peaks are finer than a hair,
and the far boats smaller than a mustard seed.
The evening miasma (瘴氣) adds still more to the heat,
and the autumn clouds just then screen the sunlight.
The rocks are so high that even the monkeys are put to trouble,
and the woods so still that even the birds are few.
Chanting long, I find it hard to turn my horse about,
and let the dew wet my clothes or not, as it will.
You lament that the rivers and lakes are far and not clearly to be seen,
and say you have never once lifted your head to look at the edge of the darkening sky.
I hold dear the long light on the water, far off and far off,
and fancy I hear the slap and slap of the breaking waves.
When the fishing fires grow dim the people are just then asleep,
and where the merchant ships turn home the sound of the oars must ring.
If, in coming to visit, you should forget to bring a cask of wine,
they will surely laugh that the head of the outing has far too little feeling.