Yi Che-hyun. (1287—1367 A.D.)
Dr. James S. Gale describes Yi Che-hyun as “one of the greatest writers and statesmen that Korea has ever known.” He was a faithful servant of the demented King Choong-sung who seems to have spent most of his reign hanging about the Mongol court at Sang-to till he eventually abdicated in favor of his son. Choong-sung was then exiled to Thibet where he spent four years. Yi Che-hyun went with his king into exile. The following poem was written during the long journey of seven months’ duration through China to Thibet.
Wind and snow, sweeping across the moorland,
Fling their ghost shadows over hill and river.
Folded in those far clouds the heaped snow waits.
“How soon to fall?” we ask in anxious thought,
“Where lies the inn beyond this blinding gale?”
All round me now the ground is smooth and white
As though the Silver River earthward streamed
In glittering cascades, or as though the hills,
Crushed by the storm, had fallen on the field.
How many colors whirling flakes reveal!
The fitful sun turns them to phoenix birds.
My pony slips upon the icy road.
My woollen robe grows heavy with the snow.
Huddled inside my cloak I strive to think
Of Yang-yang on his donkey in the storm.
Lost in these mountains, lacking any food,
He fed rich verses to his hungry stomach!