A Korean poem that I read recently is written by Kim Seung Hee who was born in 1952 and started her career in 1973. She is widely admired as a feminist surrealist and has received several major awards. The following is the original poem.
희망이 외롭다
남들은 절망이 외롭다고 말하지만
나는 희망이 더 외로운 것 같아,
절망은 중력의 평안이라고 할까,
돼지가 삼겹살이 될 때까지
힘을 다 빼고, 그냥 피 웅덩이 속으로 가라앉으면 되는 걸 뭐……
그래도 머리는 연분홍으로 웃고 있잖아, 절망엔
그런 비애의 따스함이 있네
희망은 때로 응급처치를 해주기도 하지만
희망의 응급처치를 싫어하는 인간도 때로 있을 수 있네,
아마 그럴 수 있네,
절망이 더 위안이 된다고 하면서,
바람에 흔들리는 찬란한 햇빛 한 줄기를 따라
약을 구하러 멀리서 왔는데
약이 잘 듣지 않는다는 것을 미리 믿을 정도로
당신은 이제 병이 깊었나,
희망의 토템 폴인 선인장……
사전에서 모든 단어가 다 날아가버린 그 밤에도
나란히 신발을 벗어놓고 의자 앞에 조용히 서 있는
파란 번개 같은 그 순간에도
또 희망이란 말은 간신히 남아
그 희망이란 말 때문에 다 놓아버리지도 못한다,
희망이란 말이 세계의 폐허가 완성되는 것을 가로막는다,
왜 폐허가 되도록 내버려두지 않느냐고
가슴을 두드리기도 하면서
오히려 그 희망 때문에
무섭도록 더 외로운 순간들이 있다
희망의 토템 폴인 선인장……
피가 철철 흐르도록 아직, 더, 벅차게 사랑하라는 명령인데
도망치고 싶고 그만두고 싶어도
이유 없이 나누어주는 저 찬란한 햇빛, 아까워
물에 피가 번지듯……
희망과 나,
희망은 종신형이다
희망이 외롭다
Translation:
Hope is Lonely
Though others say ‘despair is lonely’,
hope is even lonelier to me.
Shall I say that despair is peaceful as gravity?
Until the time the pig becomes pork
all it has to do is sink into
its pooling blood, drained of all strength
the pink head still smiles doesn’t it? In despair
sorrow has that sort of warmth.
Hope at times offers first aid but
sometimes there are people who don’t want hope’s first aid,
could be.
While saying that despair offers more comfort,
pursuing one ray of sunlight trembling in the breeze,
coming from afar to get medicine.
Your sickness having grown deeper,
you already trust it will not work.
Hope’s totem pole is a cactus…
Even on that night when all the words from the dictionary flew away,
even at that moment like blue lightning,
after taking off shoes side-by-side, standing quietly by a chair,
again the word hope barely remained
but because of that word hope, all cannot be discarded.
The word hope prevents the completion of the world’s ruins.
Asking why not let the ruins continue
while beating our breasts -
rather because of that hope
times are fearfully lonely.
Hope’s totem pole is a cactus,
it’s a command to love so fully blood keeps pouring out.
Even though it wants to quit, to run away,
sunlight pointlessly shares itself, what a waste,
like blood spreading in water…
hope and I,
hope is a life sentence,
hope is lonely.
Comments
This is a really deep poem. It is really saddening as well. There is a rising Kpop band called Jannabi, and the lead singer enjoys reading poems and mixes them in to his songs. You should check them out!