Heo Nanseolheon 許蘭雪軒
poet · Joseon Korea · 1563–1589
Born Heo Chohui. She was called a prodigy for a poem she wrote at eight. She lost two children and died at twenty-seven; the collection her brother Heo Gyun edited was printed in China and Japan as well.
Posts
1580s
I hold the golden scissors in my hand, and in the cold of night my ten fingers stiffen. I make a wedding dress for someone else, and year after year I sleep alone.
手把金翦刀 夜寒十指直
爲人作嫁衣 年年還獨宿Nanseolheon sijip, "Song of a Poor Girl"
c. 1584 · To her brother Heo Bong in exile
At the dark window the silver candle burns low. Fireflies cross the high pavilion. Silently the deep night turns cold. With a rustle the autumn leaves come down. From the frontier passes news is rare, and this deep worry cannot be undone. Far away I picture the Blue Lotus Palace: the hills empty, the moon white through the vines.
暗窓銀燭低 流螢度高閣
悄悄深夜寒 蕭蕭秋葉落
關河音信稀 端憂不可釋
遙想靑蓮宮 山空蘿月白Nanseolheon sijip, "Sent to Hagok"
1580s
Last year I lost my beloved daughter. This year I lost my beloved son. Sorrow, sorrow, the earth of Gwangneung, where two small graves rise face to face.
去年喪愛女 今年喪愛子
哀哀廣陵土 雙墳相對起Nanseolheon sijip, "Weeping for My Children"
1580s · Handed down as the work of Heo Nanseolheon
Only the other day I was young; how have I grown so old already? I think of the pleasures of my youth, but there is no use speaking of them. Old now, I try to tell my sorrows and my throat closes.
엇그제 저멋더니 ᄒᆞ마 어이 다 늘거니
소년행락(小年行樂) 생각ᄒᆞ니 일러도 속절업다
늘거야 서른 말ᄉᆞᆷ ᄒᆞ자니 목이 멘다The gasa "Gyuwonga" (A Woman's Sorrow), the opening
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