Rhyming in Thanks to Hwangbo, Officer of Records, for the Gift of a Fan and Ink次韻謝皇甫管記贈扇墨
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 · 84 Chinese characters · reading time 0.8 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.
Precious fan and rare ink — their worth rises side by side,
and when the wrapping was opened they carried the fragrance of the immortals.
Fanned along with the warm breeze, who could outdo their clearness?
Ground along with the broad earth, their limit cannot be measured.
Already they let the rivers and hills take on a sheen,
and again they drive the dust away and chase it off in flight.
Surely black lacquer was made into a lovely jade,
and a golden knife was taken up to cut out snow and frost.
Holding them up to handle them, I know both hands are heavy;
raising one to fan, this one lapel alone turns cool.
Only, old and ill, I was late in hurrying over to give thanks;
slow as I am, I ought at the least to buy a sheep and offer it.