Greetings to Spring
I
As if sprinkling stars onto the sky
or hiding gold nuggets under the earth
I will take this lingering love and
drop it in the pond — will it
stir back to life? Bloom into
a magenta lotus, the goldfish its brother?
II
Spring zephyrs flutter at the riverside pavilion
while a single blood-red flower falls
onto the azure surface of the water.
A swallow, allured, veers away
from its trek south of the river.
Flame
I
O boatman, drop your anchor
in the heart of the sea.
The wild waves may leap
and tip over the universe
but the lone boat will guard its flame,
a single star against the night sky.
II
My body, mine?
No, no, it is not.
When wistful, I see it in my dream:
a hostage of Love
When lonely, I take another look:
a captive of Pain
A Cursed Song
I
O scarlet rouge — with whom
will I share my whispers now?
O red lips turned blue —will I ever smile again?
O fair countenance darkened — how
will I face my mirror?
II
As one would hide gold
in the dirt, or jade under rocks, I, in my
wounded bosom, planted a seed.
It rained and it snowed.
I let a briar grow.
Two Hearts
I
When a woman of two hearts
comes down to the front yard
to plant a torn red flower
back into its bed of soil
they tell her, ever so coldly:
“You wait until the rain stops.”
II
Should you rise up to Heaven
or should you sink into Hell?
A cursed life I lead, without
a single cave to hide in.
Carrying two hearts, I agonize
in the heavens and on the earth.
III
Every night, in every dream,
I weep, drenched in waves.
On a lonely day, two-hearted,
I ask the sea what all this means:
It says it is a single heart
forlorn, and broken in two.
Constancy
I
A swamp in the woods
speckled and strewn with seeds.
Were it a childish meadow,
it’d be teeming with weeds.
But here, a lotus pip
blooms into a bouquet, and beams.
II
Against the filth of mire,
the lovely hue of a lotus flower.
Battered by life and its tides,
it rises and aspires nonetheless.
Alas, hope, as they say,
is a difficult, difficult thing.
봉춘
1
하늘에 별 뿌리듯 땅속에 금 감추듯
못 잊어 정든 정을 못 속에 살려보면
홍련이 피어날 때 금붕어 형제 할까
2
봄바람 한들한들 강정에 밝았으니
피 붉은 꽃 한 송이 푸른 물에 떨어져
강남 길 가던 것을 오던 제비 낚도다
불꽃
1
야 이 가던 사공아 해심에 닻 주려마
사나운 물결 뛰어 누리를 뒤집어도
외배에 불꽃 지켜 하늘에 별 하나다
2
내 몸이 내 것이라니 아니다 또 아니다
그리워 꿈에 보면 사랑의 인질이요
외로워 고쳐 보면 아픔의 포로로다
저주된 노래
1
오오오 빨간 연지 누구와 속삭이랴
붉던 입술 푸르러 다시야 웃어보랴
희던 얼굴 검거라 거울을 들어 보랴
2
흙 속에 금 감추듯 돌 속에 옥 가리듯
그 아픈 가슴 터에 설움의 씨 심은 후
비 내리고 눈 내려 가시 넝쿨 길렀다
두 마음
1
두 마음 품은 여인 뜰 아래 내려설 때
뿌리 패인 빨강 꽃 다시 심어 볼 것을
비나 멎건 가라고 냉랭히 이르도다
2
천당 길 가려느냐 지옥 길 가려느냐
숨어질 동굴 없이 저주의 신세 되어
두 마음 품에 품고 천지에 아득인다
3
밤마다 꿈마다 물결에 젖어 울며
두 마음 외로운 날 바다에게 물으면
외로운 한 마음이 깨져서 둘이라고
정절
1
숲 속에 늪 있으니 종자로 메워진다
철없는 들이면은 잡초로 깊을 것을
연밥 한 알 받아서 한 떨기 벙긋벙긋
2
더러운 진흙 속의 연꽃 빛 고움이여
세파에 부대끼며 의지를 세움 같다
두어라 희망이란 곤란하다 하거니
About the translator:
Eunice Lee is a fourth year A. B. candidate at Princeton University majoring in English and pursuing certificates in Creative Writing and Translation & Intercultural Communication. She is the 2018 recipient of the E. E. Cummings Society for the Academy of American Poets Poetry Prize and the author of THE RED PAIL: Short Stories, Essays, and Vignettes (Bobbook 2015).