Yetgeul › Dongguk Isangguk Jip (Collected Works of Minister Yi of the Eastern Country) › Latter Collection, Book 4

Sent to Academician Pak on Returning the Gayageum寄朴學士還加耶琴

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 · 56 Chinese characters · reading time 0.5 min

Dongguk Isangguk Jip (Collected Works of Minister Yi of the Eastern Country) Latter Collection, Book 4 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.

1First Poem

加耶琴類古秦箏。多感君侯借與情。舊譜忘來難恊律。百彈方記兩三聲。

The gayageum is like the zither of old Qin (秦), and I am deeply grateful for the kindness of your lending it. Having forgotten the old scores, I find it hard to set the tune, and only after a hundred playings do I barely recall a note or two.

Interlinear notes 1

二首○以長日難消借之。期以秋奉還。

Two poems. I borrowed it because the long days were hard to pass, and promised to return it in autumn.

2Second Poem

長日難消借得箏。及期還寄未忘情。絃絃舌在歸應導。手拙吾何作巧聲。

Because the long days were hard to pass I borrowed the zither, and now the promised time has come and I send it back, unable to forget my fondness for it. Every string has a tongue, and once home it will tell on me: how should one as clumsy-handed as I have drawn out any wondrous sound?