Sacrificial address offered to my father-in-law, Lord Jin, Chief Minister of the Palace Treasury祭外舅大府卿晉公文
月日。直翰林李某。敬祭于亡舅大府卿晉公之靈。惟靈沈靜寘言。韜光內炤。明于步緯。不自表表。毅然膽氣。不露其徼。嗚呼哀哉。品登九卿。官不爲少。年餘七旬。壽不爲夭。其得暴疾。是所傷悼。一言莫宣。瞑目長逝。粤予早孤。無我敢敎。及來于公。親炙訓勵。能奮爲人。公助其翥。嗚呼哀哉。古者親迎。婦嬪于壻。其賴婦家。無有幾許。今則娶妻。男歸于女。凡己所須。婦家是據。姑舅之恩。有同怙恃。嗟嗟岳公。篤我周備。棄之而殂。吾將疇倚。何以厝兆名山之趾。落石一掩。永訣於此。猶有英魂。歆我薄祀。
On such-and-such a day of such-and-such a month, Yi so-and-so, Auxiliary Academician of the Hallim Academy, reverently makes sacrifice before the spirit of his late father-in-law, Lord Jin (晉公), Chief Minister of the Palace Treasury.
Your bright spirit was settled and quiet and sparing of words; you hid your light and shone within. You were versed in the courses of the stars, yet you did not display it; you had firm courage, yet you did not show it carelessly.
Alas, how sad. Your rank rose to the rank of the nine chancellors, so your office was not a small one, and your years passed seventy, so your span was not short. Only it grieves me that you fell into a sudden illness. Without unfolding a single word you closed your eyes and departed forever.
I lost my father early, and there was no one who dared to teach me. Coming to you and attending upon you closely, I received teaching and encouragement and could rouse myself and become a man; it was you who helped that fledgling's flapping.
Alas, how sad. In old days the bride was fetched home and the wife came to her husband's house, so that one leaned upon the wife's family but little. Nowadays, when a man takes a wife, the man goes to the woman's house. Whatever I need I lean upon my wife's family for, and so the kindness of a father-in-law and a mother-in-law is as that of one's parents.
Alas, my father-in-law. You looked after me warmly and in everything, and now you have left me and gone, and whom shall I lean upon? Your tomb is set at the foot of a famed mountain, and the stone is let down and covers it once for all, and here we part forever. If your fragrant spirit is with us still, partake of my poor sacrifice.
Interlinear notes 1
葬所行
This was performed at the burial ground.