Chong Mong-ju [1](1337-1392)
Should I die and die again,
Should I die a hundred deaths,
My skeleton turn to dust,
My soul exist or not.
What could change the unswerving loyalty
Of this heart toward my lord?
Pak Paeng-nyon (1417-1456)
A crow in sleet appears white.
But soon turns black again.
When the bright moon lights the sky,
Is the night dark?
What can change the unswerving loyalty
Of this heart toward my lord?
Prince Wolsan (1454-1488)
Autumn night falls on the river
And the water grows chill.
I cast a line.
But the fish do not bite.
Loaded only with insensible moonlight
I row back an empty boat.
Yang Sa-eon (1517-1584)
The mountain may be high
But it is still below heaven.
Climb and climb again;
Everyone can reach the summit.
Only the man who never tried
Insists the mountain is high.
Chung Choi (1536-1593)
I’m fifty now, no longer young.
Yet whenever I go, at the mere sight of wine
I break into a broad toothy grin.
What’s wrong with me?
Wine is an old old acquaintance;
I can never forget him.
Chung Chol (1536-1593)
A shadow is reflected in the water.
It’s a monk crossing the bridge.
Monk, stay a moment.
Let me ask you where you’re going.
Pointing his stick at the clouds
He passes without a backward glance.
Kim Sang-yong (1561-1637)
Love is a lie; when my love says he loves me,
That’s a lie.
When he says he sees me in his dreams,
That’s a bigger lie.
If sleep eluded him as it eludes me,
How would he see me in his dreams?
Sin Hum (1566-1629)
The song maker
Is a man of many worries.
Through song he strives for the relief
That words have failed to bring.
If such relief were real
I too would sing.
Yun Son-do (1587-1671)
You ask how many friends I have?
Water, rocks, pine and bamboo.
And when the moon rises over the east mountain
I feel even greater pleasure.
Enough. To these five
What’s the point in adding more?
Yun Son-do(1587-1671)
Flowers bloom in the heat;
Leaves fall in the cold.
Pine, why are you impervious
To snow and frost?
Thus I know your roots
Are straight and deep.
Kim Soo-chang (1690-Unknown)
I awake on a raining spring morning
And get out of bed.
Half open buds
Battle to flower first.
Spring birds captivated by the mood
Sing and dance.
Kim Soo-chang (1690-Unknown)
Heaven and earth are parents,
Created things are wife and children.
Rivers and mountains are brothers,
Breezes and moonlight are close friends.
In all this, have I ever forgotten
The loyalty between ruler and subject?
Kim Cheon-taek (Unknown)
I’ve taken off my clothes
And instructed the lad to pawn them in the
wine-house.
I look up at the sky
And ask the moon:
“Is there any difference between Li Po of old
And me today?”
Kim Jin-tae (Unknown)
Listen to me, lad. Don’t be proud
of your youthful looks.
Time is fleet;
Black shining hair soon turns white.
We too believed in youth
And thus have learned nothing.
Nam Hun (Unknown)
You men with guns on the river bank,
Shoot all the wildgeese!
You men with fishing nets,
Catch all the carp!
For neither wildgeese nor carp
Bring any news.
Anonymous
Sun, don’t go.
Let’s go together, you and I.
Whither are you bound in all that vastness of sky
That you hurry so?
How about waiting to see
The moon rise over the east mountain?
Anonymous
At the first cry of the cock
Don’t get up and leave.
Sit there a while
Till the cock crows again.
That cock is from another place.
He’s crying for his mother.
Anonymous
A plum petal falls in the spring breeze.
It flies here, it flies there.
Unable to mount a tree,
Look, it’s caught in a spider’s web.
That spider spins his web,
Thinking his captive petal a butterfly.
Anonymous
Snow falling on the green mountain
Every peak a jade jewel.
Spring rain will turn
That mountain green again.
Why then does white hair
Never turn black?
Anonymous
I’ll build a house and roof it with clouds.
I’ll dig a well and in it float the moon.
With the spring wind I’ll make a broom
And sweep up the falling flowers.
My friend with the wine,
Why won’t he be able to find me?
Translated by
Kevin O’Rourke