The Four Gentlemen of the National Academy Having Answered in Kind, I Use the Previous Rhymes Again and Reply to Each — Hwangbo, the Academy Instructor大學韓大博昌綏，尹學正復圭，崔學諭宗裕，皇甫學諭琯見和。復用前韻各答。 皇甫學諭
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 · 126 Chinese characters · reading time 1.3 min
Dongguk Isangguk Jip (Collected Works of Minister Yi of the Eastern Country) Former Collection, Book 16 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 the river town of Gyeyang I was happily in the same office with you,
and documents piled up before us, black and red in confusion.
The stipend was thin and occasions for drinking our fill were rare,
yet now and then we loaded wine and, drunk, went on into the evening.
From the mountain tower we gazed at the sea, its green oil clear and still,
and at the official lodging we admired the flowers as though red brocade were woven.
Apart from chanting poems, with what were we to take our pleasure?
Courtesans there were, but little of lovely color.
Your brush, sir, is swift and gallops in bold abandon,
reaching a thousand pieces at the most and a hundred at the least.
How should a blunt edge like mine dare stand against it?
Purple lightning and blue frost clash sternly against each other.
Having looked my fill at your writing, you are no mere equal of mine,
and having no way to recommend a Mi Heng (禰衡), I sweat for shame.
There is no Short Li (短李) in the world, so who will serve as the bait?
I have idly become a guest angling for the great turtle with a rainbow rod.
How should a cold office of nothing but salt and pickled greens befit you?
You ought rightly to draft the dragon rescripts and dwell at the sovereign's side.