That Day the Three Bak Academicians Answered in Kind, So I Matched Their Rhymes Again是日三朴學士見和。復次韻。
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 · 100 Chinese characters · reading time 1.1 min
Dongguk Isangguk Jip (Collected Works of Minister Yi of the Eastern Country) Latter Collection, Book 10 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.
Reed pipes and song gather at the seat,
and again brocade and embroidery, steeped in fragrance, cover the guests in jeweled caps.
The gate is full of peach and plum blossoms — those I myself chose and selected in days past.
An immortal fragrance rises faintly from the wine in the golden cups,
and spirits soar, the drinking grows mellow, and the talk is at its height.
Those finely adorned sing in slow measure,
and vie in coming forward to wish us long life and keep us from going home.
I remember that in days past I once knew this joy,
and coming all together again to this joyful seat, the hair at both temples has gained more white.
Evening draws near and I would go, yet I sit down again and forget to return home.
Now and then I would rise up briskly, but my sleeve is caught,
and staggering as I may, my black cap tilts askew.
Laughable, this withered old man —
calling the entertainer boy again and again and urging on the clappers (拍板).
Interlinear notes 1
戊戌年。予之四度門生等。設如此筵。慰于致政。此門生亦於其日在焉。
In the Musul year my fourth group of graduates gave a feast like this one to console me on my retirement from office. This graduate too was present that day.