Yetgeul › Dongguk Isangguk Jip (Collected Works of Minister Yi of the Eastern Country) › Latter Collection, Book 6
The Minister of State Sent a Quatrain in Reply, So I Match the Rhymes Again and Answer Him相國和絶句見寄。復次韻奉答。
Dongguk Isangguk Jip (Collected Works of Minister Yi of the Eastern Country) Latter Collection, Book 6 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
金與堅貞玉與光。端知此是杖中王。衰翁已復成強壯。崎嶮何能有礙妨。
Iron gave it firmness and jade gave it luster, and truly I know this is the king among staffs. A withered old man has already been made strong again — what hindrance could even a rough road hold?
2Second Poem
何須君賜始生光。冢宰由來得貳王。已許扶持欹側步。從今杖謁亦何妨。
Why must a thing be the king's bestowal before it shines? The Chief Minister's place has always been second only to the king's. Since he has already allowed it to hold up my tottering steps, from now on what hindrance is there in attending him staff in hand?