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Secretary Choe Answered, So I Write Again崔書記見和。復題。

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 · 4 passages · 156 Chinese characters · reading time 1.8 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.

1First Poem

何處宜吾意。平生只此亭。客頭潮共白▣▣▣。同靑。境勝移方丈。人淳復大庭。子詩收萬景。▣似鏡傳形。

Where is it that suits my mind? In all my life, only this pavilion. The traveler's head is white along with the tide, □□□ are green together. The place is so fine that Mount Fangzhang seems moved here, and the people so simple that the courtyard of high antiquity seems restored. Your poem gathers up all these sights, □ as a mirror passes on a likeness.

Interlinear notes 1

四首

There are four poems.

2Second Poem

豁於遊笠澤。酣却醉蘭亭。仙島鼇頭碧。蠻天鳥外靑。漁燈明極浦。僧屧響空庭。過客詩中識。何須面對形。

For clearing the breast it is better than roaming on Lize (笠澤); for ripeness it goes beyond being drunk at Lanting (蘭亭). The isle of the immortals is green as a turtle's head; the southern sky is blue beyond the birds. Fishing fires are bright on the far inlet, and the sound of a monk's clogs rings in the empty courtyard. The traveler who passes will know it from within the poem; why must we meet face to face?

3Third Poem

蕩身停木道。豁眼上江亭。鷺頂翹垂白。鳧翁引濯靑。潮聲殷虛廡。山翠滴幽庭。莫是眞人住。何煩卜地形。

Shaking my body, I halt the course of the boat; opening my eyes, I climb the river pavilion. The egret lifts the white of its crown and lets it hang; the duck plucks the hair of its neck and washes the green. The sound of the tide rings in the empty gallery, and the green of the hills beads in the secluded courtyard. Is this not a dwelling place of true men? Why go to the bother of divining the shape of the ground?

Interlinear notes 2

時鑑曰。鳧引濯其翁。翁。頸也。

The Shijian (時鑑) says: "The duck plucks its ong (翁) and washes it." The ong is the neck.

有十六聖像。

There are images of the sixteen sages.

4Fourth Poem

地高猶壓海。心巧更營亭。遠島人烟白。深林鬼火靑。魚堪求丙穴。鵝豈費黃庭。莫使畫家見。幷描我瘦形。

The ground is high and presses down upon the sea, and minds were deft enough to build a pavilion here besides. On the far islands the smoke of people's houses is white; in the deep grove the goblin fires are green. Fish one might well seek at Bingxue (丙穴), but why should a goose make one squander the Classic of the Yellow Court? Do not show this to a painter — he might go on to paint even my gaunt figure in.

‹ Roaming at Myeongwolsa with My Fellow Officials Contents Roaming with Choe Ingong, Secretary of Chungwon, at the Jemurwon Pavilion on Jayeondo, I Compose This Using the Rhymes of the Various Gentlemen on the Plaque ›Listen to this piece