Yin-Yang and the Five Elements (陰陽五行)

Yin-Yang (陰陽) and the Five Elements (五行)
Yong Wan Choi 06.14.10

Counting the night stars, gazing up at the daytime sky,
the two arms and five fingers of our forebears
painted the Four Guardian Spirits on the walls of Goguryeo tombs

Bearing the moon and the sun upon their heads
they built a house within the tomb, marking east, west, south, and north,
and the passing spring, summer, autumn, and winter came to dwell

In the five places of water, fire, wood, metal, and earth
blue, red, white, black, and yellow
fish, bird, tiger, snake, and human
the Blue Dragon, Vermilion Bird, White Tiger, Black Tortoise, and the Emperor live together

As mother, father, and five children make a family of seven,
the seven ministers of the Big Dipper circle the North Star
and royal court music rings out one day in the palace of heaven

The sun flying along the ecliptic
the moon crawling along its white path
pass by twelve times, and a year flows away

On the seventh day of the seventh month, awaited through tears,
magpies and crows fly in to build the Ojakgyo Bridge
and Gyeonu the Herdsman and Jiknyeo the Weaver, hand in hand, splash into the Milky Way

Sun, moon, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, Saturn:
seven stars find their nests in the sky
Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday:
seven days come to find us today

In the ancient old home of the Goguryeo forebears
all the people of the world have gathered in one courtyard