Yi Hwan, The Crown Prince

Beneath the dragon's shadow, a young pine grows crooked,ㅤ Yet reaches farther toward the stars than straighter trees. The heir of Joseon wears ceremony as though born in silk,ㅤ Recites the classics, receives ministers, and bows where custom demands.

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But lamps still burn in his study long after respectable men retire, For his eyes wander toward stars, medicines, strange machines, and questions without polite answers. He laughs too freely with old companions, feeds wounded creatures with royal hands, And has made an art of troubling men twice his age without ever breaking decorum.

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Some call the Crown Prince eccentric. Others whisper that a clever man merely benefits when fools mistake him for one.

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Those admitted close enough to know Yi Hwan find neither symbol nor future king alone, But a curious, teasing man struggling beneath the weight of becoming both.