Yetgeul › Dongguk Isangguk Jip (Collected Works of Minister Yi of the Eastern Country) › Former Collection, Book 18

Vice Minister (侍郞) Yi Baekjeon (百全) answered in verse, so I matched the rhymes again and respectfully replied, two poems李侍郞百全見和。復次韻奉答。二首

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 · 168 Chinese characters · reading time 1.9 min

Dongguk Isangguk Jip (Collected Works of Minister Yi of the Eastern Country) Former Collection, Book 18 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

平生事業付詩筵。千首何曾慱一錢。忽得犀珍裝帶重。不須獸錦奪袍鮮。感君親把珠聯賀。愧我虛敎玉趾旋。不但巾箱深祕畜。端知樂府遍流傳。讀成閑搨長聲詠。驚破比隣殷鼾眠。中有一端嘲戲事。酒狂蹤迹說當年。

I have hung my life's work upon the seat where poems are made And though I made a thousand of them, when did I ever get a penny Now of a sudden I have a rhinoceros-horn treasure weighting out my belt And need not take a fine gown of beast-figured brocade I thank you for coming in person to congratulate me with your pearl-strung lines And am ashamed that I made your honored steps turn back for nothing It will not merely be hidden away deep in my headcloth box I know well that it will spread and be handed round in the Music Bureau (樂府) Having read it I copy it at leisure and chant it out long And startle awake the snoring sleep of my neighbors Among it there is one thing said in jest Where you speak of the traces of that year when I played the wine-madman

Interlinear notes 1

公親訪贈詩。以無客位於門外坐話故云。

The Duke came in person and gave me the poem, but there being no seat for a guest we sat outside the gate and talked, and so he said this.

2Second poem

才高當世氣兼人。富貴駸駸又逼身。尙有無窮前去路。何妨暫閱後來薪。如予正合鮎緣竹。知子行須驥逸塵。豈意靑雲猶記舊。肯臨白屋不嫌貧。追嗟此日班荊久。更擬明年結草新。趁取花時邀枉駕。紋椒一局送殘春。

Your talent is high in your age and your spirit takes in others besides And wealth and honor come striding up to you as well There is still an endless road before you to go So what harm if for a while the later firewood is piled on top One like me is truly a catfish climbing a bamboo pole But you, I know, will be as a fine steed leaving the dust behind How could I have thought that having mounted the blue clouds you would remember old things And not shrink from coming to a white thatched house, nor loathe its poverty I sigh belatedly that this day you sat so long among the brambles And reckon anew to knot the grass next year and repay you I beg you to bend your carriage here when the flowers are out And we will send off the rest of the spring over one carved board

Interlinear notes 2

公久淹四品。

The Duke stayed long in the fourth rank.

予亦淹三品。

I too stayed long in the third rank.

‹ Spring placard verses (春帖子) for the palace in the gyesa year Contents Presented to Chancellor Choe, two poems — a preface is joined to it ›Listen to this piece