Kim, Yeonjong, a renowned poet and writer from Korea, the Land of Morning Calm, shares his poem
Kim Yeonjong
Mr. Kim Yeonjong published “Geugnakgang Station” and four other works in ‘Literature and Boundaries’ in 2004. He received the 3rd Literature Award of Medical Doctor in 2008. In 2018, he was awarded the Arko Literary Creation Fund and was selected for excellence in published content under the production support project of the Korea Publishing Culture Industry Promotion Agency in 2022. His poetry collections include ‘What the Stethoscope Says,’ ‘Hippocrates in Hysteria,’ and ‘Paradise.’ His prose collections include ‘Variations for Doctor K’ and ‘A Quack’s Survival Method.’ Currently, he serves as the president of the ‘Korean Doctors and Poets Association’ and operates an internal medicine clinic.
Declared discontinuation of life-sustaining treatment
I don’t glorify death
It is not about risking one’s life to alleviate the pain of life.
I just want to confidently walk the final path.
Now I can’t record the rest of my life with a monitor.
Remove the dashboard of pain attached to my body
Please wear mourning clothes with the most comfortable buttons.
An IV cord wrapped around the arm like a vine,
A ventilator as quiet as oxygen,
Levintube, which received and swallowed tears mixed with sorrow,
Electrocardiogram monitors that do not go beyond the scale of the graph paper even for a moment while monitoring a heart that has run out of charge,
Please eliminate all.
Refuse any form of CPR
The signal sound of the body without the waves of thought is just a mechanical beat.
Do not want to use epinephrine and dopamine
The machine’s breathing and heart rate are already out of sync, so I refuse heart massage.
A time to encounter the family who will take over the rotten body and the god who will take away the broken soul,
I don’t want you to look servile, bargaining for my sins, so I ask you to keep the area around the bed neatly tidy.
Now I say the end,
I would like to request that the overdue medical expenses and remaining criminal charges be claimed on the resume of my life that has been mortgaged.
***
연명치료 중단을 告함
김연종
나는 죽음을 찬미하는 것이 아니다
목숨을 담보로
삶의 고통을 덜어내고자 함도 아니다
그저 마지막 길을 당당하게 걷고자 함이다
이제 모니터로는 남은 생을 기록할 수 없으니
내 몸에 부착된 고통의 계기판을 제거하고
가장 편안한 단추의 상복을 부탁한다
덩굴식물처럼 팔을 친친 감고 있는 링거줄
산소처럼 고요한 인공호흡기
울음 섞인 미음을 받아 삼키던 레빈튜브
충전이 바닥 난 심장을 감시하느라
한시도 모눈종이의 눈금을 벗어나지 못한
심전도 모니터링을 모두 제거해 주기 바란다
일체의 심폐소생술 또한 거부한다
사유의 파동이 사라진 육신의 신호음은
한낱 기계적 박동일 뿐이니
에피네피린과 도파민의 사용을 원치 않는다
기계의 호흡과 심박동은 이미 어긋났으니
심장마사지는 사양한다
썩은 육신을 인수해 갈 가족과
상한 영혼을 거두어 갈 神과 조우의 시간,
내 죗값을 흥정하는 비굴한 모습을 원치 않으니
침대 주변을 말끔히 정리해주기 부탁한다
이제 종언을 告하노니,
여태껏 밀린 치료비와 남은 죗값은
저당 잡힌 내 생의 이력서에 함께 청구해주기 바란다
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