Matching the Rhymes of Vice Minister Yi's Three Poems in Reply, I Answer with Four次韻李侍郞見和三首以四首答之
畢竟難栽數四莖。尋常笑我拙於生。淸詩兼卵投之重。感淚非鮫報也輕。兒戲擲盤疑㲉破。妻藏踰月恐雛成。若將隴麥先呼餠。未掘園畦可曰羹。何況承恩親自見。直須作膳更敎精。靑苽作菓無多月。不用東陵學邵平。
In the end it is hard even to plant three or four stalks, and I always laugh at myself for being clumsy at housekeeping. Your limpid poems, and taro sent along with them, weigh heavy on me; my grateful tears are not the shark-folk's pearls, so my repayment is light. A child flings them on the platter in play, and I fear the skins will crack; my wife hides them away past a month, and I fear the young will hatch. If one may call the barley on the field bank a rice-cake beforehand, then one may call it soup before the furrow is even dug. How much more, having received your kindness and seen it with my own eyes: I bid them make it into a side dish at once, and with all the more care. The days for taking green melons as fruit are only months away, so there is no need to learn from Shao Ping (邵平) at Dongling.
土膏雨助得肥莖。魁似靑邊斗大生。欲作跳毬圓或缺。擬看團石握還輕。不如當日烹而食。都爲吾儕嗜所成。果是名爲君子芋。也應慙入庶人羹。我眞癡漢那論品。子作新醫曰補精。貺及老翁能不感。若敎分肉卽陳平。
Rich soil helped by rain has got you fat stalks, and on the green side the lumps have swelled as big as a measure. Try to make a bouncing ball of them and they are round and then dented; take them for round stones and in the hand they are light instead. Nothing is better than to boil and eat them that same day, for they have all come out suited to the taste of our company. If they are indeed to be called the gentleman's taro, they would be ashamed to go into a commoner's soup. I am a truly foolish man — how should I argue over grades? You say, turned new physician, that it aids the vital essence. Sending even to an old man, how should I not be moved? Had you set me to dividing the meat, I should be Chen Ping (陳平) himself.
Interlinear notes 1
禮記。有諸侯羹庶人羹。
The Book of Rites says that there is a soup for the feudal lords and a soup for the common people.
不唯貪賞卓琅莖。亦欲潛觀物化生。入囿才看針脛短。披沙驚觸雪肌輕。一根如我猶難蒔。四等於君亦易成。已勝冬菁甘似蜜。何論秋蒜辣難羹。口譌都斥腥鱗遠。舌嗒方知異味精。略備盃觴當展謝。遲予微體得和平。
Not only do I covet the sight of those tall jade-like stalks, I would also quietly watch the principle by which things change and come to be. Going into the garden I had just seen short shoots like needles, and parting the sand I touched with a start on flesh like snow. One like me finds it hard even to plant a single root, yet all four grades come easily for you. Already better than winter turnip and sweet as honey — why speak of autumn garlic, too pungent to make a soup of? My taste having gone awry, I put all fishy things far from me, and only when the tongue grew dull did I know the fineness of an uncommon savour. I ought to set out a few cups and offer my thanks, but I wait for this wasted body to come at ease.
Interlinear notes 1
予以病。近不喜食肉。
Because of illness I have of late taken no pleasure in meat.
方於漑灌養纖莖。未意團團卵復生。君倚園田裁易得。我憑廛市價非輕。畦中只見脩脩立。地底誰窺磊磊成。若欲對當須玉食。未宜容易偶藜羹。車聲作號曾難覈。鉅子稱名亦莫精。一字注箋廻見示。渙然釋此鬱心平。
I had only just watered them and was raising the slender stalks, and did not think round eggs would come of it as well. You, relying on your field, get them easily by planting, but I rely on the market, where the price is no light thing. I had seen only what stood up long and thin amid the furrows; who ever peeped at what ripened lumpy below the ground? To set beside them one needs a feast of fine dishes; they are not to be paired carelessly with goosefoot soup. What is named chaseong (車聲) has long been hard to make clear, and what is called geoja (鉅子) is not exact either. If you would put a one-word gloss to it and send it round to show me, this vexation would clear away brightly and my mind be at ease.