Alone in a small bamboo garden

Yun Yonggu is a master calligrapher and literatus known for his paintings of landscapes, bamboo and orchids. He retired from his career as a civil official in protest of the Japanese occupation of Korea and lived out his life as the recluse he identifies in the signature of this painting. The poem may be read: "Along the paths of a small garden I plant bamboo in place of flowerbeds."