Matching the Rhymes of Vice Minister Yi's Poem on Going to the Congratulatory Banquet of the Presiding Examiner of the Ministry Examination, and the Next Day Thanking Him with a Palindrome Poem次韻李侍郞赴省試座主慶筵。明日以廻文謝之。
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 · 84 Chinese characters · reading time 0.9 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.
Shrinking like a fish in a pool, I have long kept my gate shut
And am ashamed that, old and dim, I have given up letters
The sorting out of jade throughout must rest on an eye like a mirror
And the peaches planted in even rows, I think, will give off their scent
To the east and south the trays were cleared and the guests' places set out
To left and right the mats were spread and the troop of singing girls gathered
Hairpins fell, and caps and sashes were lost besides
And as the wine went to their heads they took meat and pungent things by turns
Three cups tipped, and the clear wine added to the sea
One strain of song came to the ear and halted the clouds
Ashamed I am that, old age thick upon me, I am worn out with sickness
How could I have joined in that glory and been steeped in the merriment