Yetgeul › Dongguk Isangguk Jip (Collected Works of Minister Yi of the Eastern Country) › Former Collection, Book 37
Sacrificial address offered to a father祭父文
Dongguk Isangguk Jip (Collected Works of Minister Yi of the Eastern Country) Former Collection, Book 37 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.
月日云云。父昔在南。予學京師。百舍雖艱。往則覲之。今之所寄。北山之垂。其距都城。無幾許步。俄頃可往。往亦何覩。竟此一生。更見無所。言欲出口。哽咽難吐。唯此薄觴。表予情素。嗚呼哀哉。
Such-and-such a month, such-and-such a day, and so forth.
When my father was in the south long ago, I was studying in the capital. However hard the long road, if I went I could see him. Now the place where he rests is at the foot of the northern mountain, no more than a few steps away from the walls, so that I can go there in a moment. But if I go, what shall I see?
Until this one life of mine is ended there is nowhere to see him again. The words would come out of my mouth, but my throat chokes and they are hard to utter. With this poor cup alone I show forth my true heart. Alas, how sad.
Interlinear notes 1
代人行
Written on behalf of another.