A mansion guarded by an elm stands by the road;
Its tall gate was built for prosperous posterity.
Now its dwellers have moved away, no cart comes by—
Only the passerby step in to avoid the rain.
translated by Sung-Il Lee
14th Century Korean Poetry
On a Spring Day by Wang Paek
After last night’s fog soaked my thatched roof,
Peach blossoms near the bamboo are suddenly in full bloom.
Drunk with wine, I forget the snowy streaks of my hair—
I wear a flowery crown, standing in the spring breeze.
translated by Sung-Il Lee
Shijo 2270 by U T’ak
In one hand I grabbed a bramble,
in the other a stick:
the bramble to block the advance of age, the stick to stay approaching white hair.
White hair, though,
outwitted me: it took a shortcut here.
translated by Kevin O’Rourke
Shijo 2060 by U T’ak
The breeze that melted the blue mountain snow
blew suddenly and was gone.
I’ll borrow that breeze a moment and blow it across my head,
to melt
the frost lodged so long in these locks.
translated by Kevin O’Rourke
Written on a Volume by a Friend by Yi Sack
The path runs aslant, deep among the jumbled mountains,
at sundown, cattle find their way home on their own.
This is indeed the wish of an old man come true:
sweet grass, faintly misted, reaches to the sky.
translated by Kim Jong-gil
