Matching the Rhymes of Academician Yi Baekjeon's Further Reply to the Cockscomb Poem次韻李百全學士復和雞冠花詩
1First Poem
家園略不見花開。嘆我風情全耗矣。兒童好事移此花。準擬名花名四季。雖於四季未能開。自夏侵冬幾得似。蜂巢鳳翔君勿言。昨夜霜深渾已死。世言此是曼多羅。所以喜栽僧院地。此說荒唐亦莫憑。眩惑何殊混朱紫。予愚但守雞頭名。坐對繡冠吟率爾。至今尙自蒸紅霞。傍有何花得攀跂。不然學士寧再吟。坐賭珠璣由汝耳。
In my garden I scarcely see flowers bloom and lament that my taste for beauty has wholly faded The children, fond of busyness, transplanted this flower and, calling it a famous flower, would name it the four-seasons flower (四季花) Though it cannot bloom through all four seasons it reaches from summer into winter, so it is somewhat like Of a hive of bees, of a phoenix in flight — do not speak so last night the frost was deep and they have all died already In the world they call this the mandara (曼多羅) and say that is why they like to plant it in temple yards This saying is empty and cannot be believed either and how does such confused delusion differ from mixing red with purple? I am a simple man and keep only the name cockscomb sitting before the embroidered comb and chanting as it comes Even now it is still steaming with red sunset glow what flower is there beside it that can climb after? Were it not so, why would the Academician chant again? Sitting and contending with a pearl staked — that rests with you
Interlinear notes 3
二首
Two poems.
君詩曰。旁邊鳳翔與蜂巢云云。
Your poem said, 'Beside it, a phoenix seems to fly, and it is like a hive of bees.'
此亦蹈君詩所言傍邊某花之語。
This too treads on the words 'what flower beside it' from your poem.
2Second Poem
奇花或有凌冬開。王侯第宅尤多矣。貯之玉盆藏土室。如護深閨處女季。此花不護亦不養。跨涉炎凉誰得似。浮薄春紅那更言。芙蓉秋發猶先死。曰葩曰萼異群花。造物生渠殊特地。氊冠偶自得深殷。木耳胡爲成爛紫。一叢一朶狀難周。看遍枝枝方得爾。圓尖脩短各未齊。合不爲騈枝不跂。君非折對吾詩看。一十一喩皆虛耳。
There are strange flowers that sometimes brave the winter and bloom and they are more numerous in the houses of kings and lords Set in jade tubs and kept in earthen rooms they are guarded like a youngest daughter in an inner chamber This flower is neither guarded nor tended yet crosses heat and cool — what is there like it? Of the light, shallow red of spring days there is no need to speak again and even the lotus that blooms in autumn dies the sooner What is called petal and what is called calyx differ from other flowers the Maker was uncommonly particular in bringing this forth The comb like a felt cap came of itself by chance to a deep blackish red and how did the tree-ear mushroom turn to a riot of purple? Even of one cluster, one blossom, the shape is hard to tell throughout only after seeing every branch do I begin to know Round and pointed, long and short, each uneven with the rest joined they do not become webbed toes, split they do not become a sixth finger Had you not broken a sprig and matched it against my poem all eleven comparisons would have come to nothing
Interlinear notes 1
予前後五篇。凡一十一喻。以枝枝狀皆不同。折而細見。然後狀之。故云。
In five pieces, earlier and later, I made eleven comparisons in all. Every branch differs in shape, and I wrote down those shapes only after breaking one off and looking closely; hence these words.