Matching the Rhymes of a Poem by Yu Chunggi (劉冲祺), Grand Remonstrancer, Rejoicing at the Successive Examination Successes of His Pupil Kim Yunseung次韻劉大諫冲祺喜門生進士金允升一年連捷。仍召入天院。
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 · 121 Chinese characters · reading time 1.4 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.
How should it be hard to pass in succession within a few ten-day spans (旬)?
The marvelous skill is more wondrous than stacking two pearls one upon the other.
Even those passing along the road still marvel in secret,
and we who are of the same way are fit for this glorious sight.
The talent that broke out of the bag showed itself, and the man of letters was made;
the merit of framing the great house goes back to old Gongshu Ban (公輸般) the carpenter.
It is not this young gentleman's repeated good fortune that I congratulate,
but that you knew early how to tell mugwort from orchid.
It is hard to bring down both of the high-flying birds that have reached the sky,
yet only a single golden pellet was spent.
At the curtained steps the name was made out, and hearing it twice they were startled;
the officials knew the face and remembered having seen it before.
Outstanding as you are, even a third success would be fitting;
were it parceled out to ordinary men, how many men's shares would it make?
Whose strength was it that fanned the clear fragrance abroad?
Master Yu was the first to pluck the orchid of the valley.