Man between Mind and Eye – A Poem from Korea

0
309

A man walks along the street,

Precariously carrying a day’s burden,

Trudging along the street where the white snowflakes break.

Blowing a horn is something beyond this world.

Ms. Yeon Myung-ji, a poet from Korea, the Land of Morning Calm, shares her poem  

Yeon Myung-ji-Korea-Sindh CourierYeon Myung-ji, a poet from South Korea, began her literary career in 2013 by publishing “Gashibi” with Minerva Publishing. She then published “Sitting like an Apple” and “Seventeen Miss Marco Polo.” She won the 2023 Homi Literary Award and the Gyeongbuk Ilbo Cheongsong Guesthouse Literary Award.

Eye-MindMan between Mind and Eye

Snow pours down

Snow crumbles

Snow melts.

 

A man walks along the street,

Precariously carrying a day’s burden,

Trudging along the street where the white snowflakes break.

Blowing a horn is something beyond this world.

 

In the city where snow meets snow to make a snowstorm

A stranger with covered ears and eyes

Seeps and melts into snow.

The man traveling to a distant place is weeping.

 

The cloud’s shade falls

And the snow’s gloom thickens.

When evening’s worries detain the road,

The man’s sorrow cascades as blizzard.

 

Automobiles move slowly.

On a road devoid of boundaries

The man who was crying with his face dipping into snowflakes

Pushes his tears and passes through winter’s country.

 

On a day snow falls

Like a confession never made to anyone.

(Translated by Chang Soo Ko)  

***

the eye and brain마음과 사이의 남자

눈이 쏟아지고

눈이 허물어지고

눈이 녹고

 

차도를 남자가 걷는다

위태로운 자세로 하루의 등짐을 무겁게 지고

하얀 눈발이 부러지는 거리를 걷는다

빵빵거리는 너머 세상의

 

눈과 눈이 만나 폭설을 이룬 도시에서

귀를 막고 눈을 막은 모르는 남자가

눈에 스며들어 녹아내리고 있다

곳으로 가는 남자 울고있다

 

구름의 그늘이 떨어지며

눈의 우울도 깊어진다

저녁의 근심이 도로를 가둘

남자의 슬픔이 함박눈으로 내린다

 

자동차들이 느리게 간다

경계가 없어진 차도에서

눈발에 얼굴을 묻고 울던 남자는

눈물을 밀고 겨울의 나라를 지나간다

 

누구에게도 말하지 못한 고백처럼

눈이 내리는

___________________ 

Read: House made of fallen leaves – Poetry from Korea

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here