The Danube River
Slips out of the city
Between the light of twilight and the sound of the violin.
Dr. Siyoung Doung, a poetess from South Korea, shares her poem
Poet Dr. Siyoung Doung graduated from the Department of Korean Language and Literature at Dongguk University and went on to earn a Ph.D. in Korean Language and Literature from Hanyang University. She further expanded her academic pursuits by studying humanities at Regensburg University in Germany. Her teaching career includes positions as a professor at Korea Tourism University and Jilin University of Finance and Economics in China. Her literary journey began in 2003 with her poetry debut in the literary magazine Dacheung. Since then, she has published numerous poetry collections, including Future Hunting, In Search of a Strange God, The Phone Call from God, The Eyes of November, The Carnival of Time (Anthology), Was It You, Was It Me, or Was It Longing?, The Scent of Secrets, Aria of Everyday Life, The River Flowing Under the Pen, The Magic Letters, and The Horizon Never Gets Wet. In addition to poetry, Doung has contributed significantly to literary research with works such as Roh Cheon-myung’s Poetry and Semiotics, Korean Literature and Semiotics, and Semiotics of Modern Poetry. Her exploration of literature extends into travel writing, with essay collections like Encountering Culture Through Travel and Encountering Travel Through Literature. Her literary excellence has been recognized with numerous prestigious awards, including the Park Hwa-mok Literary Award (2010), Poetry and Poetics Young Poet Award (2011), the Grand Prize at the Korean Buddhist Literature Awards (2018), the 32nd Dongguk Literary Award (2019), the Yeongrang Literary Award for Criticism (2020), and the 7th Woltan Park Jong-hwa Literary Award by the Korean Writers’ Association (2021). Most recently, she received the Literary Youth Work Award in 2024. In recognition of her contributions to literature, she was also a recipient of a creative grant from the Arts Council Korea in 2005. She is the President of ‘Korean Association of World Literature’
Between the Twilight and the Sound of the Violin
Between the Twilight and the Sound of the ViolinAt the border of Croatia and Serbia,
The Pannonian Plain lays out a new map.
Mountains emerge, opening roads and blocking them
Mountains are always the masters of the grandest paths.
Are you on some errand?
The Danube River
Slips out of the city
Between the light of twilight and the sound of the violin.
A day, vanishing so as not to disappear,
Crosses the mountain’s waist like a lazy thought.
Someone,
Like a gently touched giant clam,
Closes the door on the day.
***
황혼과 바이올린 소리 사이로
크로아티아와 세르비아 경계
판노니아 평원이 새로운 판을 짠다
산이 나와 길을 내고 길을 막고
산은 언제나 가장 큰 길의 주인
무슨 볼일 보고 가나?
도나우강이
황혼과 바이올린 소리 사이로
도시를 빠져나간다
사라지지 않으려 사라지는 하루가
게으른 생각처럼 산허리를 넘는다
누군가
살짝 건드려 놓은 대왕조개처럼
하루가 문을 닫고 있다
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