Letter of Congratulation Presented to the Surveillance Commissioner at the New Year正旦賀狀 賀正廉察使
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 · 78 Chinese characters · reading time 0.8 min
Dongguk Isangguk Jip (Collected Works of Minister Yi of the Eastern Country) Former Collection, Book 32 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.
The first month of man has just come round, and now opens the beginning of early spring. Your envoy's progress is still far off, and I cannot pour and offer with my own hand the wine that prays for long life.
In reverence I consider that Your Lordship the Pacification Commissioner is broad and broad in vessel and in measure, and free and open in bearing. Mounting the carriage of Fan Pang (范滂), You look about and make inquiry, and Your authority rings through the districts; and meeting the first promulgation of the lofty calendar, blessings gather at Your headquarters.
We, improperly sharing in the charge of our ruler's cares, belong beneath Your worthy shade. Only, bound by the tally we carry upon our persons, we cannot crawl upon our knees to hold up Your shoes.