G-NT3806KSJP

Cold Evening





The moon shining blue hangs above
the village shrine wall’s crumbled corner
staying still as if it lost its heart, and on a rock a pair
of crows spread their wings against the wind.

Graves clinging onto one another push in.
Snow melts, revealing red earth where a hill begins.
Here, far from the streetlights, I have made
a home. O my heart, once more

the world is further away than the grave,
tears giving no more warmth than water.
O my heart, my only world where
a bonfire blossoms, even fall has left my yard.

But I am, despite everything, I am
listening to melting snow flowing under snow
covering this earth I lie on each night,
for I am the one who sees the moon over the wall.







찬 저녁


퍼르스렷한 달은, 성황당의
데군데군 헐어진 담 모도리에
우둑히 걸리웠고, 바위 위의
까마귀 한 쌍, 바람에 나래를 펴라.

엉긔한 무덤들은 들먹거리며,
눈 녹아 황토 드러난 멧기슭의,
여기라, 거리 불빛도 떨어져 나와,
집 짓고 들었노라, 오오 가슴이여

세상은 무덤보다도 다시 멀고
눈물은 물보다 더 덥음이 없어라.
오오 가슴이여, 모닥불 피어오르는
내 한세상, 마당가의 가을도 갔어라.

그러나 나는, 오히려 나는
소리를 들어라, 눈석임 물어 씨거리는,
땅 위에 누워서, 밤마다 누워,
담 모도리에 걸린 달을 내가 또 봄으로.



Kim Sowol (1902-1934) was born in North Pyongan Province. In high school, he met his lifetime mentor, Kim Ok, a poet and translator who opened a new chapter in Korean poetry by translating European symbolist and imagist poetry into Korean. With Kim Ok’s help, Sowol was able to publish his first book of poetry, Jindallae Flower, in 1925. However, he was unable to find an audience for his poetry, nor was he able to find a way out of his extreme poverty. He is said to have died of a brain aneurysm while taking opium to treat his gout, though suspicions of suicide have lingered.

Jack Jung is a graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop. His translations of Korean poet Yi Sang’s poetry and prose are published in Yi Sang: Selected Works by Wave Books. He is a Visiting Assistant Professor of English at Davidson College.