Matching the Rhymes of Academician Pak's Second Reply次韻朴學士復和
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 · 1 passages · 110 Chinese characters · reading time 1.1 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.
A scroll of scripture lies upon the desk
And the plantain's inner leaf has not yet burst
Even the scripture I cannot spread and read
How much less enjoy all manner of things
Did Laozi not say it
That having a body becomes a care
If this one body were not
How should there be eyes dim or bright
You are truly the first among poets
Your gift shines out and lights the world
Under your brush wind and thunder rise
Within your belly brocade and embroidery blaze
Had this writing of ours been without you
It would be as with the word about there being no Guan Zhong (管仲)
Who else is there to know the sound
At the tune of flowing water the string snaps just now
You have a free and open mind to go home
And that makes a long sigh rise in me
A great vessel bent down like this
How should those who stand in the ranks of office not redden
The Duke of the State (國公) cherishes men of talent
How in the end should he leave you without an office
Interlinear notes 1
伯陽 — This is Laozi's courtesy name. The two lines that follow draw on chapter 13 of the Daodejing: 「That I have a great care is because I have a body.」 — Translator