Yetgeul › Dongguk Isangguk Jip (Collected Works of Minister Yi of the Eastern Country) › Latter Collection, Book 1

Thinking of the Old Capital, Three Poems — The Stream at Gwibeopsa (歸法寺)憶舊京三詠 歸法寺川邊

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 · 1 passages · 28 Chinese characters · reading time 0.3 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.

故國荒凉忍可思。不如忘却故憨癡。唯餘一段關情處。歸法川邊踞送巵。

The old capital lies waste and desolate — how can I bear to think of it? Better to play the fool and simply forget. Only one place is left that catches at my heart: sitting astride the stream at Gwibeopsa, passing the cup around.

Interlinear notes 2

年年學子等夏課處也。

Every year the students did their summer studies here.

諸儒多會川上。垂足水中飮酒。

Many scholars gathered by the stream, soaked their feet in the water, and drank.