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

Written Out of a Wish to Retire有乞退心有作

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 · 70 Chinese characters · reading time 0.7 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.

我欲乞殘身。得解腰間綬。退閑一室中。日用宜何取。時弄伽倻琴。連斟杜康酒。何以祛塵襟。樂天詩在手。何以修淨業。楞嚴經在口。此樂若果成。不落南面後。耆奮餘幾人。邀爲老境友。

I beg that this remaining body be let go, and would loosen the seal-cord at my waist. Retired and idle within a single room, what would be good to do each day? At times I would play the gayageum, and one after another pour out Dugang wine. With what shall I wash away a worldly heart? The poems of Letian (樂天) are in my hand. With what shall I cultivate pure karma? The Neungeomgyeong is in my mouth. If this pleasure truly comes about, I would not envy even a king's throne. How many are left among my old friends? I would call them and make them companions of my old age.

Interlinear notes 1

我國琴名。肖秦箏。予好弄之。

This is the name of a stringed instrument of our country. It resembles the zheng of Qin (秦). I am fond of playing it.