Some Time – A Poem from Korea

Yong-Mee Cho

Poetess Ms. Yong-Mee Cho made her debut in 1990 through “Hangil Literature.”  Her collections of poetry include “Anxiety Eats Away the Soul,” “Ten Thousand Fish Fly Up the Mountain,” “Self-Portrait in Hemp Cloth,” “The Cherry Tree in Bloom at My Villa,” “Memory Planet,” “My Other Names,” and “Your Beauty.” She also has a collection of prose titled “One Hundred Years on the Island.” Yong-Mee Cho has received several awards, including the Kim Dal-jin Literary Award, the Kim Jun-seong Literary Award, the Gosan Literary Award, and the Mokwol Literary Award.

Some Time

A boring and painful life persists,

You tenaciously focus on the hardships of life.

 

There was a time when I was utterly captivated by the beauty of life.

I leapt in both pain and joy, as if scalding water from a kettle were pouring directly onto the back of my hand.

 

This is the realm called life,

For its vividness, it can exist nowhere else.

 

I yearn for delusion and ignorance to retreat like a child before the teeth of a ferocious dog, in the face of formidable concentration.

The more you scream, the more vibrant and vivid your life becomes.

 

An insipid passion drains me,

This suffering is entirely self-contained and purely material.

 

Though it is challenging for anyone to achieve perfect serenity,

I aspire to become a martyr who solely concentrates on the sufferings of life.

A beautiful yet dreadful life endures for a while.

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당분간

조용미

지루하고 괴로운 삶이 지속된다

집요하게 너는 생의 괴로움에 집중하고 있다

 

생의 아름다움에 완전히 매혹당했던 적 있었다

주전자의 뜨거운 물이 손등에 바로 쏟아지듯 고통과 환희를 느끼며 펄펄 뛰었다

 

여긴 생이라는 현장이다

이렇게 생생하므로 다른 곳일 수 없다

 

무서운 집중 앞에 미망과 무명이 사나운 개의 이빨 앞에 선 어린아이처럼 뒤로 물러나기를 바란다

통쾌하다 비명을 지를수록 생은 더욱 싱싱해지고, 생생해지고

 

지루한 열정이 나를 지치게 한다

이 괴로움은 완벽하게 독자적이고 완벽하게 물질적이다

 

누구나 완벽하게 평화롭기는 어렵다 그래도

생의 괴로움에만 집중하는 순교자가 되고 싶다 아름답고 끔찍한 삶이 당분간 지속된다

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