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Matching the Rhymes When Academician Choe Answered an Old Poem and Came to Visit次韻崔學士和舊詩見訪

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 · 3 passages · 120 Chinese characters · reading time 1.4 min

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.

感君迴鈿勒。訪我款茅堂。坐欠梅粧艶。盃無桂醑香。相逢歡未洽。重見話應長。莫厭頻來往。家才隔一岡。

I thank you for turning your fine bridle and kindly seeking out my thatched hall. On the mat there is no beauty of plum-blossom adornment, in the cup no fragrance of cassia wine. Our joy at meeting is not yet satisfied, and if we meet again the talk will surely run long. Do not weary of coming and going often — our houses are barely one ridge apart.

Interlinear notes 2

宗粹

This is Jongsu (宗粹).

此詩乃內願堂大禪師廓雲首唱也。公和二首。予於禪師方丈見之。和一首屬公。故公和三首來訪。予復次韻云。五月也。

This poem was first raised by Hwagun (廓雲), Great Seon Master of the Naewondang (內願堂). The gentleman answered with two poems; I saw them in the master's abbot's quarters and answered with one, which I sent to the gentleman. He therefore answered with three poems and came to visit, and so I matched the rhymes again. It was the fifth month.

會見調金鉉。何嗟滯玉堂。杏梅遲早發。蘭菊後先香。經世子難免。讓賢吾所長。煩公來見代。歸老萬松岡。

Before long I shall see you become the minister who seasons the cauldron; why lament your lingering in the Jade Hall (玉堂)? Apricot and plum bloom late and early; orchid and chrysanthemum are fragrant, one behind, one before. Governing the world is what you can hardly escape, while yielding to the worthy is what I do well. Troublesome though it be, if you would come and take my place, I would go back to the slope of Mansong (萬松) and grow old there.

Interlinear notes 1

公久爲翰林學士。

The gentleman was long an academician of the Hallim.

伊昔鸎溪巷。相知自草堂。更遊千里遠。同翫一花香。曠刦舊緣厚。平生交分長。莫忘吾沒後。噀酒酹遙岡。

In days gone by, in the village of Aenggye (鸎溪), we came to know each other from a thatched hall. Again we roamed a thousand li away and enjoyed together the fragrance of a single flower. Our old bond from distant kalpas is deep, and the feeling of a lifetime's friendship is long. Even after I am dead, do not forget: spray out wine and pour it on my far-off mound.

Interlinear notes 2

初自予妻兄晉君別墅受知。

At first I was recognized at the villa of Jin Gongdo (晉公度), my wife's elder brother.

金溝漢山花柳事。

This refers to our enjoying the flowers and willows at Geumgu (金溝) and Hansan (漢山).

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