Gil Jae 吉再

early 15th century

In a thatched house by the stream I live alone, at ease. The moon is white, the wind is clear, and there is joy to spare. No visitors come; only the mountain birds talk. I move my couch to the bamboo bank and lie there reading.

臨溪茅屋獨閑居 月白風淸興有餘 外客不來山鳥語 移床竹塢臥看書

Yaeun jip, "Setting Down My Mind"

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early 15th century (recorded in a songbook of 1728) · Visiting Gaeseong, the old capital of fallen Goryeo

I ride back alone, on one horse, into the capital of five hundred years. The hills and streams are as they were; the great men are nowhere to be found. Ah, those days of peace: were they a dream?

五百年 都邑地를 匹馬로 도라드니 山川은 依舊ᄒᆞ되 人傑은 간 듸 업다 어즈버 太平烟月이 ᄭᅮᆷ이런가 ᄒᆞ노라

"Hoegoga," in Cheonggu yeongeon (1728)

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