Jeong Yakyong 丁若鏞

c. 1796

Past a month of steaming rain, foul air piling up, my limbs without strength from morning to dusk. Then early autumn: the blue sky clear and vast, from end to end not one speck of cloud. Is that not a delight?

跨月蒸淋積穢氛 四肢無力度朝曛 新秋碧落澄寥廓 端軸都無一點雲 不亦快哉

Yeoyudang jeonseo, "Is That Not a Delight?", first of twenty

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1804 · In exile at Gangjin

Where there is grain there is no one to eat it; where there are many sons there is always the fear of hunger. High officials are sure to be fools, and men of talent have nowhere to use it. Few houses have every blessing, and the highest Way is always in decline. The father is thrifty and the son squanders. The wife is wise and the husband is sure to be a dolt. When the moon is full, clouds often come; when the flowers open, the wind spoils them. All things are like this. I laugh alone, and no one knows why.

有粟無人食 多男必患飢 達官必憃愚 才者無所施 家室少完福 至道常陵遲 翁嗇子每蕩 婦慧郞必癡 月滿頻値雲 花開風誤之 物物盡如此 獨笑無人知

Yeoyudang jeonseo, poems, "Laughing Alone"

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1832 · From a sequence of six written at seventy-one

One of an old man's pleasures: having no teeth comes next. To lose half is truly miserable. To have none at all is a satisfaction.

老人一快事 齒豁抑其次 半落誠可苦 全空乃得意

Yeoyudang jeonseo, "An Old Man's Pleasures," second poem

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1832

Now that my hair is entirely gone, what can all those troubles cling to? No more labour of combing and washing, and I am spared the shame of going grey.

今髮旣全無 衆瘼將焉倚 旣無櫛沐勞 亦免衰白恥

Yeoyudang jeonseo, "An Old Man's Pleasures," first poem

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1832

When the mood comes, I turn a thought; when the thought comes, I write it down. I am a man of Joseon, and gladly I write Joseon poems.

興到卽運意 意到卽寫之 我是朝鮮人 甘作朝鮮詩

Yeoyudang jeonseo, "An Old Man's Pleasures," fifth poem

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1832 · From a sequence of six written at seventy-one: a bald head, lost teeth, dim eyes, deaf ears, verse written as he pleases, and a game of go

One of an old man's pleasures: going deaf comes next. The world's noise has no good sound in it; nearly all of it is who is right and who is wrong.

老人一快事 耳聾又次之 世聲無好音 大都皆是非

Yeoyudang jeonseo, "An Old Man's Pleasures," fourth poem

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1832

One of an old man's pleasures: a game of go now and then with a guest or a friend. I always pick the weakest player and shake my head to dodge the strong.

老人一快事 時與賓朋奕 必求最拙手 掉頭避強敵

Yeoyudang jeonseo, "An Old Man's Pleasures," sixth poem

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