Yetgeul › Dongguk Isangguk Jip (Collected Works of Minister Yi of the Eastern Country) › Latter Collection, Book 8
Thanking Vice Director Ha for Sending Dried Persimmons謝河郞中惠送乾杮子
Dongguk Isangguk Jip (Collected Works of Minister Yi of the Eastern Country) Latter Collection, Book 8 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.
解苞昔作紅漿吸。盈貫今將黝玉呑。老齒不關含濕冷。病唇尤快咀乾溫。物兼七絶名偏重。恩及三投感可言。堪笑啖終唯串在。手持猶自齕餘痕。
In days past I untied the wrapping and sucked the red juice; now I swallow black jade that fills the skewer. For old teeth, biting what is damp and cold does not suit; for sick lips, chewing what is dry and warm is brisker still. This thing combines seven excellences, and its name is weighty indeed; your kindness now reaches a third time—my thanks are worth the speaking. How laughable: once all is eaten, only the skewer is left, and I hold it in my hand and go on gnawing at the marks that remain.
Interlinear notes 2
前惠紅柹
Earlier he had sent ripe persimmons.
前再惠紅柹。今復以乾者。
Earlier he twice sent ripe persimmons, and now he has sent dried ones again.