Yetgeul › Dongguk Isangguk Jip (Collected Works of Minister Yi of the Eastern Country) › Latter Collection, Book 2

On the Twenty-Eighth Day of the Twelfth Month of the Jeongyu Year My Memorial Begging to Retire Received the King's Assent — That Night I Was Too Glad to Sleep, and So I Made Two Long Poems and Respectfully Sent Them to Academician Yi (丁酉十二月二十八日。乞退表蒙允可。是夜喜不得寐。因成長句二首。奉寄李學士)丁酉十二月二十八日。乞退表蒙允可。是夜喜不得寐。因成長句二首。奉寄李學士

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 · 2 passages · 112 Chinese characters · reading time 1.2 min

Dongguk Isangguk Jip (Collected Works of Minister Yi of the Eastern Country) Latter Collection, Book 2 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.

有用如公先限退。無才愧我剩期牽。賴因長假牢稱病。果荷優恩許得便。從此自稱天放客。與君同作地行仙。兩家有酒頻相喚。斷送人間未盡年。

One as useful as you, sir, withdraws before his term is up, while I, who have no talent, was held on past the term, to my shame. By making a long leave my excuse and insisting that I was ill, I at last received generous favor and was granted my ease. From now on I shall call myself a traveler set loose by Heaven, and together with you I will be an immortal who walks upon the earth. Whenever there is wine in either house let us call each other often, and so spend out the years that are left to us in the world of men.

Interlinear notes 3

百全。

Baekjeon (百全).

上以政籍未滿因留。故乞退未得。

The king held him back, saying that his record of service was not yet full, and so though he begged to retire he did not obtain it.

告假百日因乞退。

He asked for a hundred days' leave and then went on to beg to retire.

備甞榮辱得身抽。驚破槐安夢裡遊。鰐渚鮫洲曾竄謫。鸞臺鳳閣亦優游。周行世界閑僧坐。遍閱夫郞老妓休。官罷偶思陳迹耳。漸無一事到心頭。

Only after tasting glory and disgrace through and through have I drawn my body out, and I have started awake from my roaming in the dream of the Land of Locust Peace (槐安國). I was banished to shores where crocodiles live and isles where sharks swim, and I also roamed at ease in the Luan Terrace (鸞臺) and the Phoenix Pavilion (鳳閣). Having gone all round the world, I sit like an idle monk, and I rest like an old courtesan who has been through all manner of men. Having laid down office, I only happen now and then to think of the traces I left, and by degrees not one single thing comes into my mind.

‹ On the Twenty-Ninth Day of the Twelfth Month, When the Appointments Were Promulgated, I Retired from Office as Administrator of Chancellery Affairs (門下平章事), and Wrote This (十二月二十九日頒政。以門下平章致仕有作。)ContentsIn Bai Letian's Collection I Saw the Poem "The Home-Brewed Wine Has Newly Ripened and I Get Drunk Each Time I Taste It, So My Wife and Nephews Urge Me to Drink Less" — This Too Is Like Me, and So I Answer It (觀白樂天集家釀新熟。每甞輒醉。妻姪等勸令少飮之詩。此亦類予。故和之云。) ›Listen to this piece