Poetess Ms. Kim, Yeondeok began her literary career through the ‘Daesan University Literary Award’ in 2018. She published her first poetry collection ‘The Future of Ashes and Love’ in 2021.

Lukewarm Waterfall

I tend to have a little too much of everything.

Excessive kindness,

Excessive jealousy.

Tears, too much love, too much

Fool.

I gained a lot of weight trying to cope with the excessive world that I had inflated without even realizing it.

Enough to break up with everyone

I feel that my whole body has become soft.

Precisely calculated and erected,

The edges of the buildings look beautiful.

It is when the light dances in numerous straight lines that it unexpectedly gains strength.

When I was young, I thought excess was beautiful.

That’s definitely my weapon

Skin

I thought it was a happy love.

I thought there was no other way to become smart.

A cube with Seorak Mountain waterfall printed on six sides. If you rotate the cube horizontally, the top of the waterfall smoothly crashes into the cable car or maple tree branch. When you turn the cube vertically, each side of the waterfall breaks into pieces. The black plastic was clearly exposed between the joint surfaces. It’s the first toy I ever played with.

Waterfall index finger

Made by the thumbs pushing against each other without thinking,

Definitely going on in the dust

I don’t care about this hurt

It’s steady and doesn’t flow.

Sunlight streaming into the living room,

While pouring out tons of water.

Inside

It stays warm

To the waterfall that experienced the distorted and disorganized future all at once in the same area.

Original memory

There was no point in returning lukewarm order. On one hand, there are people who are planning a fall picnic to climb Mt. Seorak instead of the death that just happened in the palm of their hand.

They are far away and comfortable, the shadows fall over their shoulders and no one can distinguish their faces.

I stopped the cube. I had to run to them and tell them what I had touched, but at that time I lacked the language skills to shrink or crumple the living room world to my will.

It seems like that day will disappear, but it won’t disappear I stayed in the living room for years to think about what happened to the waterfall. I ate square-shaped fall food non-stop.

Repetition deceives everything smoothly. I was born as the most excessive person in an excessive family, but I couldn’t stop growing violently. What should I do? I couldn’t control it well.

Bottomless

The image of a waterfall without social skills gave me a strange sense of comfort.

***

미지근한 폭포

김연덕

나는 모든 것에 조금씩 과한 편이야.

과한 친절,

과한 질투.

눈물과 과한 사랑, 과한

바보.

나도 모르게 엄청나게 부풀려 놓은 과한 세계를 감당하느라 살이 다 쪘다.

모두와 헤어질 만큼

온몸이 부드러워졌어.

정밀하게

계산되어 세워진 빌딩들 모서리가 아름답네. 빛은 여러 줄 직선으로 곤두박질 칠 때야 불시에

힘을 갖는 거구나.

어렸을 때는 과한 게 아름다운 줄 알았어. 그게 꼭 나의 무기

피부

즐거운 사랑인 줄 알고.

똑똑해지는 다른 법은 없는 줄 알고.

여섯 면에 설악산 폭포가 인쇄된 큐브. 가로 열을 돌리면 폭포의 꼭대기가 케이블카나 단풍나무 가지에 매끈하게 가 박히고, 세로 열을 돌리면 폭포의 각 면들이 조각나 쪼개지던. 접합면 사이사이 검은색 플라스틱이 적나라하게 드러나 있던. 처음으로 갖고 놀던 장난감이야.

폭포는 검지

엄지가 무심결에 서로 밀며 만들어내는,

먼지 속에서 확실히 진행되는

이 상처에도 개의치 않고

흐르지 않고 의연하다.

엄청난 양의 물을 쏟아내면서도

거실로 가로질러 들어오는 햇빛

안에

따뜻하게 멈춰 있다.

같은 면적으로 뒤틀리다 흐트러지는 미래를 한꺼번에 경험한 폭포에게

원래의 기억

미지근한 질서를 되돌려주는 것은 의미가 없었어. 한쪽에서는 방금 내 손바닥 위에서 일어난 죽음 대신 설악산 등반 가을 소풍을 계획하고 있는 이들이 있네.

그들은 멀리 있고 편안하고 그림자가 그들의 어깨까지 드리워져 누구도 그들 얼굴을

구별할 수 없어. 큐브를 멈추었다. 그들에게 달려가 내가 만진 것을 이야기해야 했지만 그때는

거실 세계를 내 뜻대로 줄이거나

구겨 던져버릴 만한 언어 구사력이 더 부족했지. 그날이 사라질 듯 사라지지 않아 나는

몇 년이고 거실에 남아 폭포가 겪은 일에 대해 생각하게 되었어. 각진 형태의 가을 음식이라면

쉬지 않고 먹어댔어.

반복은 모든 걸 부드럽게 속이더라구. 과한 집에서 가장 과한 사람으로 태어났는데 격렬한 성장을 멈추지 못했는데 어쩌겠어, 조절이 잘 되지 않더라구.

바닥 없고

사회성 없는 폭포 이미지가 이상한 위안을 주더라구.

_____________

The post Lukewarm Waterfall – A Poem from Korea first appeared on Sindh Courier.

Aziz Kingrani

The Khirthar Mountain Range is full of many astonishing and attractive water springs and waterfalls. Piprasar Waterfall is one of these attractive places, located between the ancient forts – Mian Jo Kot and Karo Kot in the Khirthar Mountain range, to the west of Wahi Pandhi, a historic town in Johi Taluka, Dadu District, Sindh province of Pakistan.

Besides rain water, the water of natural springs continues flowing from the mountains through the bed of Nai Nali. The Piprasar waterfall is in the course of the Nali River where the water falls from a high hill into the Piprasar kumb or spring. This waterfall is an amazing recreational and historical place.

Piprasar is a compound word or name of the Sindhi language. Pipra means Pipr or Pipal tree (Ficus religiosa or sacred fig or mulberry tree. It is also known as the Bodhi tree, Pippala tree, Peepul tree, Peepal tree, or Ashvattha tree in India and Nepal) and sar means a lake or spring which literally means ‘lake or spring with Pipal trees’. Here the water of natural springs near the flow of Nali River takes the form of a waterfall from a considerable height and turns into a small lake. There are small Pipal trees in abundance on the banks of this waterfall. That is why this spring and waterfall got its name. Local traditions attribute Piprasar to a non-Muslim religion.

Historically, the Pipal tree and its leaves have been considered as of great religious significance in Buddhism. When we look at presence of the Pipal trees and if we glance at history, this belief is strengthened that it belonged to Buddhism, as the Pipal tree is sacred in Buddhism. The great Buddha began his meditation sitting under a Pipal tree. The leaves of the Pipal tree are also sacred in Buddhism.

In Sindh, where Buddhist relics have been found in ancient artefacts, Pipal leaf impressions have been found on pottery as well. Historically, it is also known that Buddhism spread in Sindh from the time of Ashoka the Great of the Maurya dynasty. The first documentary or written book on the history of Sindh, Chach Nama, mentions the Buddhia region or area. The Buddhia spread from Sehwan to Jacobabad and beyond up to Sibi in Balochistan.  From area of ​​Buddhia, the enchanting waterfall of Piprasar is about twenty kilometers away in mountainous area towards west.

There are several structures of stupas in the Kachho area as well as in the Khirthar Range, which are monuments of Buddhist origin. Buddhism in Sindh was on the rise from the Rai dynasty to the Brahman dynasty. According to M.H. Panhwar, a well-known researcher of Sindh, Buddhism remained here till 13th century AD. According to the latest research, there are still some people associated with Buddhism in Sindh. After spread of Islam in Sindh, Buddhists converted and named their caste or tribe as ‘Buddh’. At present, the people of Buddh caste live in many districts of Sindh.

There are a large number of Buddhist stupas, Buddhist shrines and other religious symbols associated with Buddhism in ancient rock carvings in Khirthar Mountain Range and around Piprasar waterfall.

With this historical background, it is believed that the site of Piprasar and other waterfalls may have been important sites of Buddhism in ancient times, and that the name Piprasar may have been popular from the ancient time.

Piprasar is one of the most beautiful and enchanting waterfall, tourist and cultural destination in the Khirthar Mountains of Sindh, which lies close to the west side of Gorakh Hill Station Road near Wahi Pandhi which could be turned into a tourist destination if the government of Sindh takes some measures.

_________________

Aziz Kingrani, hailing from village Haji Manik Kingrani, Johi, Dadu District, Sindh, Pakistan, is poet, short story writer, playwright and a research scholar. He has been contributing in the fields of history and literature since five decades. He has served as a professor as well. His 17 books are published in English and Sindhi language. His articles in English, Sindhi and Urdu have been published in various newspapers and magazines.

The post Piprasar Waterfall, an enchanting site in Khirthar Mountain Range first appeared on Sindh Courier.