Spring rises, rustling the feathers

Of cranes too hesitant to declare its arrival

I witness spring already reaching the stream.

Poet Kim Shin Young from Korea, the Land of Morning Calm, shares her poem

Poet Kim Shin Young is a critic and columnist. She earned a Ph.D. in Literature from Chung-Ang University Seoul and has worked as a university lecturer. In 1994, she received the New Writer’s Award from the literary magazine East-West Literature. She has published six books, including poetry collections such as The Garden of the Magnificent Lace Mushroom (MunhakgwaJiseongsa, 1996) and Magic Shop (Yeounangol, 2021), as well as books on literary criticism and poetry writing. She has served as the editor-in-chief of Asian Literature and Arts and the editorial director of the Christian Literary Association. Additionally, she has worked as a newspaper columnist and has received research support from the Korea Research Foundation in 2020. Her accolades include being selected as an outstanding writer by the Gyeonggi Cultural Foundation in 2019, publication support from the same foundation in 2016, the Hangeul Culture Award in 2015, the Simsan Foundation Poetry Award in 2023, and the Women’s Leadership Award from Christian Women’s News in 2024. She is also a lecturer at the Icheon Cultural Foundation and serves as the president of the Icheon Writers’ Association.

Sorry to Spring

Pushing away the biting winter,

I grasp the tip of a sprout.

 

For so long, I thought winter was the end,

But seeing faces swaying in the breeze beyond the hill, I feel joy.

 

Spring rises, rustling the feathers

Of cranes too hesitant to declare its arrival

I witness spring already reaching the stream.

 

You—willow catkins—are already in full bloom,

Yet only now, after winter has passed, do I meet you.

 

I am sorry to spring,

For though it has already arrived,

I cannot bring myself to say so aloud.

 

Fever rises, coughs rattle my chest—

I have endured the long night.

 

Even on days of deep illness,

When loneliness and sorrow weighed heavy,

Spring still comes, and you still arrive.

 

Spring, arriving so solemnly—

I am sorry.

***

봄에게 미안하다

찬바람 부는 겨울 밀어

한 촉을 잡고

 

긴 시간 겨울이 끝인 줄 알았는데

언덕 너머 바람에 흔들리는 얼굴을 보니 반갑다

 

차마 봄이 왔다고 말하지 못하는

재두루미 머리에 깃을 치고 오르는 봄

개천에 이미 당도해 있는 봄을 목격한다

 

그대, 갯버들 벌써 피어 흐드러지는데

이제야 겨울 지나 그대를 만난다

 

봄에게 미안하다

이미 당도해 있는데

왔다고 차마 말하지 못하는 속삭임

 

열이 오르고 기침으로 쿨럭이면서

긴 밤을 보냈지

 

외롭고 쓸쓸하게

깊이 병든 날에도

봄은 오는구나, 그대가 오는구나

 

숭고하게 오는 봄,

그대에게 미안하다

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Read: Companion – Poetry from Korea