On the second day of the first month, Vice Chancellor Yi answered the three poems I had sent with the persimmons, and also answered the one poem I had written last autumn, in the seventh month, on the wall of the Chancellery, and came in person to visit me; so I again matched his rhymes in reply正月二日。李平章和予餉柿詩三首。又和予去年秋七月題中書壁上詩一首。親訪見贈。復次韻奉答。
眼凡那辨物精麤。納約微誠儻肯無。聞有嗜芹曾獻貴。此人誰是卽今吾。
How should common eyes tell the fine from the coarse in things Will you perhaps accept the small sincerity I plainly offered I have heard of one who loved water parsley and presented it to a noble man And if you ask who that man was, it is none but myself today
Interlinear notes 1
仁植
Insik (仁植)
矍鑠眞同老將麤。宣威沙漠似君無。身兼文虎功名重。冷淡儒冠却愧吾。
Hale and hearty, truly as sturdy as an old general For spreading awe across the desert there is no one like you You join letters and arms in one body, and your fame weighs heavy While I, in a forlorn scholar's cap, am put to shame instead
Interlinear notes 1
右一前意
The above is the first poem, on the sense given earlier.
病裏猶披野服麤。形容與舊略同無。誰知兩府雙朱轂。騶哄盈門忽訪吾。
Being ill, I had only coarse hemp clothes thrown on And whether my looks were even roughly as of old, who could say Who would have guessed that two red carriages of the Two Boards, the Chancellery-Secretariat and the Royal Secretariat Would fill my gate with outriders' cries and suddenly come seeking me
Interlinear notes 3
右二
The above is the second poem.
予病中對以常服。
Being ill, I received them in everyday clothes.
時與李樞副同訪。
At that time he came together with Yi, Vice Commissioner of the Royal Secretariat.
支體尫殘首皓皤。腋扶華省厚顔多。此時已有歸休志。公獨先知意奈何。
My limbs are feeble and my head all white Yet held up by others I entered the chancellor's office, and much was my brazenness By then I already meant to go home and rest And you alone knew it first — what was I to do
Interlinear notes 3
右三謝訪
The above is the third poem, thanking him for the visit.
壁上詩雖末句略含退意。猶不顯言。公見詩卽知。更不入省。
In the poem written on the wall I had put a little of my wish to retire into the closing lines only, without saying it openly; yet on seeing the poem he understood at once, and never again came into the Chancellery.
右和中書壁上詩
The above answers the poem written on the wall of the Chancellery.