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An Old Swallow Comes舊燕來

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 · 70 Chinese characters · reading time 0.7 min

Dongguk Isangguk Jip (Collected Works of Minister Yi of the Eastern Country) Latter Collection, Book 9 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

翩翩一雙燕。知有舊巢在。勤尋我宅來。當以故人待。涏涏尾猶存。喃喃舌不改。舞轉楚宮腰。便嬛眞可愛。能復幾年看。吾老恐不再。

A pair of swallows, flitting and flitting Knowing that their old nest is there Have diligently sought out my house and come I shall meet them as old friends Their sleek tails are still as they were Their chattering tongues are unchanged They dance and turn with the slender waist of the palace of Chu So nimble, they are truly lovely How many more years shall I be able to watch them I am old, and fear I shall not see them twice

Interlinear notes 1

二首

Two poems

2Second Poem

頷似班將軍。腰如趙皇后。多渠尙微禽。眷眷不忘舊。

Their chins are like General Ban (班將軍) Their waists like Empress Zhao (趙皇后) Remarkable, that so small a bird Should long for the old days and not forget them

Interlinear notes 2

General Ban is Ban Chao (班超) of the Later Han. His face was described as 「a swallow's chin and a tiger's neck.」 — Translator

Empress Zhao is Zhao Feiyan (趙飛燕), empress of Emperor Cheng of the Han. Her name holds the swallow in it, and she was famed for her slender waist. — Translator