The sunset blankets the ridge in the fading hues of fire,

And every window in every home

Is stained with flower colors.

Ms. Si Rim Kim, a poet from Korea, the Land of Morning Calm, shares her poem

Poet Ms. Si Rim Kim was born in 1965 in Haenam, Jeollanam-do. She graduated from the Department of Creative Writing at the Graduate School of Culture and Arts at Dongguk University. She received the Newcomer Award from the literary magazine Korean Literature and Arts in 1991 and another Newcomer Award from Buddhist Literature in 2012. Her poetry collections include The Mugwort-Scented Seashore of The Honey Crab of My Name, The Woman Who Rides a Bicycle with Longing, The Shy Sweetbrier, and Webbed Feet Emerging. She was awarded the Simho Lee Dong-Ju Literary Prize and currently serves as the editor-in-chief of the literary magazine Buddhist Literature.

Stained with Flower Colors

As the brisk wind blows,

I long for you even more.

The foxtails,

Densely covering the hill,

All rush toward the western sky.

The sunset blankets the ridge in the fading hues of fire,

And every window in every home

Is stained with flower colors.

With no promise made,

I leave the gate wide open

And step out to greet you—

You,

Whom I can neither see nor touch.

***

꽃물 들다

샛바람 부니

당신이 더욱 보고 싶다

언덕을 빼곡히 덮은

강아지풀들 일제히

서녘 하늘 향해 달리고

석양 마루 잉걸불로 타는

노을, 집집 창문마다

꽃물이 든다

약속도 없이

대문 활짝 열어두고

볼 수도 만질 수도 없는

당신

마중 나간다.

_______________  

Read: Blue Butterfly – A Poem from Korea