G-NT3806KSJP

Heart Speaks to Ghosts





You speak to ghosts, my heart. Be with me
until we swaddle everything in a bag and reach
for the red rope on the rock, dewy on mornings,
watching the sun crawl up with our mouths open.

You speak to ghosts, my heart. Wander like an albatross,
but stay in the sky where only graves cast shadows
by the sea. All that once belonged to the lost world
are no more than my body’s disappearance after death. 

You speak to ghosts, my heart. Climb a bald mountain
as a branch of smoke rising from burning leaves
letting the wind carry you, even if dewdrops
on spiderwebs of the night coming undone fall again.

You speak to ghosts, my heart. Be with me.
This world is here once and will be no more, its days
running away with each rooster’s crow. You are
so close. Your closeness must be my everything.







비난수 하는 맘



함께 하려노라, 비난수 하는 나의 맘,
모든 것을 한짐에 묶어가지고 가기까지,
아침이면 이슬맞은 바위의 붉은 줄로,
기어오르는 해를 바라다보며, 입을 벌리고.

떠돌어라, 비난수하는 맘이어, 갈매기같이,
다만 무덤뿐이 그늘을 어른이는 하늘 위를,
바닷가의. 잃어버린 세상의 있다던 모든 것들은
차라리 내 몸이 죽어가서 없어진 것만도 못하건만.

또는 비난수하는 나의 맘, 헐벗은 산(山) 위에서,
떨어진 잎 타서오르는, 냇내의 한줄기로,
바람에 나부끼라 저녁은, 흩어진 거미줄의
밤에 매던 이슬은 곧 다시 떨어진다고 할지라도.

함께하려 하노라, 오오 비난수하는 나의 맘이여,
있다가 없어지는 세상에는
오직 날과 날이 닭소리와 함께 달아나 버리며,
가까웁는, 오오 가까웁는 그대뿐이 내게 있거라!



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.