Korean Poems
A collection of my favorite Korean poetry
The Silence of Love by Han Yong'un
Love is gone, gone is my love.
Tearing himself away from me he has gone
on a little path that stretches in the splendor of
a green hill into the autumn-tinted forest.
Our last oath, shining and enduring
like a gold-mosaicked flower,
has turned to cold ashes, blown away
in the breath of wind.
I remember his poignant first kiss and its memory
has wrought a complete change in my destiny,
then withdrawn into oblivion.
I hear not his sweet voice; I see not his fair looks.
Since it is human to love, I, alert, dreaded a
parting to come when we met.
The separation came so suddenly
it broke my heart with renewed sorrow.
Yet, I know parting can only destroy our love if
it causes futile tears to fall.
I would rather transfer the surge of this sorrow
onto the summit of hopefulness.
As we dread parting when we meet, so,
we promise to meet again when we part.
Though my love is gone, I am not parted from love;
an untiring love-song envelops the silence of love.
Parting Creates Beauty by Han Yong'un
Parting creates beauty.
There is no beauty of parting
in the ephemeral gold of the morning;
nor in the seamless black silk of the night;
nor in the eternal life which admits no death;
nor in the gorgeous celestial flower that never fades.
O love, if there is no parting, I cannot come back
to life in laughter after tearful death.
O parting!
Parting creates beauty.
Sound of Rain by Yo-Han Ju
It is raining.
The night quietly spreads its feathers.
The rain murmurs in the garden.
Like a chick lisping furtively.
The hazy moon becamae wan and
Warm winds began too breathe
As the spring flowed from the sun.
And it is raining this dark night.
It is raining.
The rain arrives like a kind guest.
I open the window to receive him.
The rain falls, murmuring and unseen.
It is raining on the garden,
The window and the roof.
The rain falls,
Bringing secret glad tidings to my heart.
ON THE THRESHOLD OF AUTUMN by Kon-Gang Yun
On a windy evening
I listen
As the winds usher in the autumn;
The falling leaves moan by the window.
As I listen again,
Distant footfalls echo near.
I live the days, hidden like crabs,
And the nights half-awake.
The autumn inhabits my night, too;
Cold frost gathers oon an empty mind.
NIGHT By Dong-Myung Kim
Night is
A lake shrouded in blue fog.
I am a fisherman
On a sleep's sailboat,
Fishing dreams.
SHINY DAYS by Jung-Ju Suh
On dazzling shiny days
Let us long for the loved ones.
The autumn flowers have fallen and
The tarnished green is tinted by maples.
What if it snows?
What if the spring returns?
If I die and you live?
If you die and I live?
FLOWER PETALS ON THE SLEEVES By Ji-Hoon Cho
The sky far away
Above cold mountain rocks.
Wild birds
Cry mournfully.
The clouds flow
A thousand miles down the river.
The wanderer's long sleeves
Are wet from flower petals.
Twilight over a riverside village
Where wine is mellow.
When this night is over
Flowers will fall in that village.
The heart is sad and tender to a fault.
The wanderer goes,
drifting quietly in the moonlight.
ROCK by Chi-Hwan Yu
When I die,
I will become a rock,
never touched
by compassion, joy or anger.
While being torn down by wind and rain,
It will only whip itself inwards
in eterenal, impersonal silence,
and at last forget its own existence;
Floating clouds, distant thunder!
Though it may dream,
it will never sing.
Though broken in pieces,
it will never utter a word.
I will become such a rock.
WANDERER by Mok-Wol Pak
Over the ferry,
Along the corn-field path,
A wanderer goes
As the moon
in the clouds.
A single road stretches
A thousand miles southward.
Twilight over a riverside village
Where wine is mellow.
The wanderer goes
As the moon
in the clouds.
HILLS SURROUND ME By Mok-Wol Pak
The hills surround me, and
Tell me to live my life,
Sowing the seeds,
Tilling the land.
Build a house below a hill,
Bear sons, bear daughters;
Plant pumpkins along the mud walls.
Live like wild roses,
Live like wormwood.
The hills surround me, and
Tell me to live like clouds,
Tell me to live like winds;
Life will soon wan like the moon.
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