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 5 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.
As Second Minister (亞卿) I came to gird a belt in those days,
but my head was already white, so it was no honor to speak of.
With talent and renown such as yours it ought to have been tied on early,
and there was an auspicious sign for it long before as well.
Not to speak of the courtiers hurrying to pay you respect —
look at the people on the road who start aside and flee.
Marks worn on the body are fixed to divide high from low,
and in this world that one matter alone is perfectly clear.
Interlinear notes 2
予昔以少卿帶紅
Long ago I wore a red belt as Junior Minister (少卿).
君言崔僕射曾有夢兆。因有一句云云。
You told Choe, Director of the Chancellery (崔僕射), that there had been a sign in a dream long before, and from that comes one of these lines.
In congratulating your fine good fortune, how should it be the belt alone?
I know that endless honors will come to you one after another.
The cicada ornament is about to fly up, and gold ornaments follow of themselves;
a falcon is about to carry a seal-cord in its beak and offer it to you.
Even the luster rising at one waist gladdens me,
and who would not marvel at three feet shining side by side?
Come back quickly wearing a gold seal and show it to me:
old as I am now, my eyes at least are perfectly clear.