Yetgeul › Dongguk Isangguk Jip (Collected Works of Minister Yi of the Eastern Country) › Latter Collection, Book 1
Borrowing Names to Press the Wine借名勤酒
Dongguk Isangguk Jip (Collected Works of Minister Yi of the Eastern Country) Latter Collection, Book 1 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.
爲引詩天子。方斟酒聖人。花王含笑勸。鸎友唱歌頻。還債錢兄在。留歡燈婢親。竹君扶路返。秉燭月娥新。
To draw out the Son of Heaven of poetry, we now pour out the Sage of wine. The King of Flowers holds a smile and presses the cup, and Friend Oriole sings again and again. There is Elder Brother Coin to pay off the debt, and Maidservant Lamp, who holds the merriment fast, is kind. His Lordship Bamboo supports me as I come back along the road, and Lady Moon, holding the candle, is fresh and new.
Interlinear notes 1
勤 in the title — The base text has 借名勤酒, but it is taken as an error for 勸 and read as "to press the wine." The body of the poem likewise has 花王含笑勸. — Translator