Sacrificial address offered to the academician Jang Jamok祭張學士自牧文
月日。良醞丞同正李某謹以淸酌之奠。祭于大僕卿寶文閣直學士張公之靈。張氏之族。自古尤披。公能世家。擢秀芳枝。得詩於枯。得草于芝。得燕國之茟。得九齡之辭。十年掌制。皇謨敷施。旣典而實。亦曄而猗。嗚呼。官唯止於侍從。位未踐於鼎司。所以澤不加於民。用不周於時。人所同嘆。寧獨予悲。我昔弱冠。果敢自負。蒺藜在前。直前不顧。論人是非。到口輒吐。搢紳士夫。橫目瞿瞿。雖蹈其門。輒鑰厥戶。公一見之。似昔有素。登堂與語。輸示肺腑。亟命家童。設酒與脯。隔墻喚客。其人能笙。吹笙佐歡。屢釂巨觥。月下扶掖。顚倒衣裳。自爾連謁。見輒忘形。與之賦詠。罔嫌後生。贈之三詩。玉鏘其鳴。詩旣奔放。草復縱橫。花開之春。葉脫之秋。雨雪之夕。雲陰幽幽。靡不呼我。陶寫幽憂。心照神契。捨公誰求。嗚呼哀哉。皇天兮奪我文帥。詩壇兮孰主其籌。糾纏兮難窮。天理兮悠悠。世無老成。吾誰與謀。抆淚痛哭。公尙聞不。想爲星兮列彼天。寧汨沒兮隨流。庶或枉駕。歆我信羞。
On such-and-such a day of such-and-such a month, Yi so-and-so, Supernumerary Assistant of the Office of Fine Brews, having prepared the offering of clear wine, makes sacrifice before the spirit of Lord Jang (張公), Chief Minister of the Court of the Imperial Stud and Auxiliary Academician of the Bomun Pavilion.
The clan of Jang has spread wider and wider from of old. The Lord carried on his house and rose outstanding from a fragrant branch. His poetry he got from Zhang Hu (張祜) and his cursive script from Zhang Zhi (張芝); he got the brush of Zhang Yue (張說), Duke of Yan, and the prose of Zhang Jiuling (張九齡). For ten years he had charge of the royal edicts and unfolded and spread his ruler's will. His writing had measure and substance, and it was bright and fair besides.
Alas, your office stopped at attendance upon the ruler, and your place did not reach the chancellorship. Therefore your bounty did not reach the people, and your use did not spread through your age. This is what all men sigh over together; how should I alone grieve?
Long ago, when I was twenty, I was boldly confident, and though caltrops lay before me I went straight on without looking back. In discussing the right and wrong of others, whatever came to my mouth I spat out at once. Officials and gentlemen looked askance and were afraid of me, and if I trod upon their gates they would at once lock the gates.
The Lord saw me once and treated me as though we had known each other from of old. He had me up into the hall and talked with me and showed me all his inmost heart. He quickly set a boy of the house to lay out wine and dried meat, and called a guest over the wall, a man who was good at the mouth-organ. He blew the mouth-organ to help the pleasure on, and we emptied the great cup many times over. Under the moonlight I was held up on either side, and I had put my coat on inside out.
From then on I called upon him again and again, and when I saw him I forgot all formality at once. We recited poems together, and he did not dislike me for being of a later generation. He gave me three poems, and they were as though jade rang out. The poems already ran unhindered, and his cursive script too galloped crosswise and lengthwise. In the flowering spring and the leaf-falling autumn, on evenings of rain and snow and when the shade of cloud lay deep and deep, there was never a time when he did not call me and pour out his deep cares. Our hearts lit each other and our spirits met; setting the Lord aside, whom shall I seek?
Alas, how sad. God above has taken away the general of our letters; who in the field of poetry will be its chief now? What is tangled and knotted is hard to know to the end, and the reason of Heaven is far off. There is no one of ripe experience left in the world; with whom shall I take counsel?
I wipe my tears and wail aloud; do you hear it even so? I suppose that you have become a star and are ranged in that sky. How should you sink and drown and follow the current? Bend your carriage hither, I beg, and partake of my faithful offerings.
Interlinear notes 2
太僕卿 — The base text has 大僕卿, which is taken to be an error for 太僕卿. This was the head of the Goryeo Court of the Imperial Stud (太僕寺). — Translator
張祜 — The base text has 得詩於枯, which is taken to be an error for 祜. All four clauses are places where men of the Zhang surname are named: 張祜, 張芝, 張說, 張九齡. — Translator