I must take comfort,
take life as it comes
the way the wind whines in the trees
stripped of flowers and foliage.
translated by Jaihiun Kim & Ronald B. Hatch
Month: April 2014
Love’s Gift by Sowol Kim
These tears dripping for love,
these pearl-like tears,
I wish to spread together
with an imperishable red thread
for my beloved to wear around her neck
as a gift of love.
translated by Jaihiun Kim & Ronald B. Hatch
A Lump of Grief by Sowol Kim
With incense burning, I kneel in prayer,
a lump of grief stuck in my heart.
Under a sliced moon the rain moans as it falls,
a lump of grief stuck in my heart.
translated by Jaihiun Kim & Ronald B. Hatch
The Sky by Sowol Kim
The sky spreads higher and more blue
every day I gaze on it,
the blue turning always
to a sigh.
translated by Jaihiun Kim & Ronald B. Hatch
Foreign Country by Sowol Kim
I turn to look at an iron bridge
I’ve crossed before I realize
I’ve set foot in a foreign land.
translated by Jaihiun Kim & Ronald B. Hatch
Road by Sowol Kim
Again last night
in a country inn
I heard a crow cawing all night.
Today
where shall I be bound?
How many more miles to go?
Up to the mountains,
onto the plains?
No, no place beckons.
No more talk.
To my home in the far north
trains and boats travel.
Tell me,
wild goose in the skies,
is there a sky-road that you travel so freely?
Wild goose in the skies,
look at me standing
at the crossroads.
The road radiates
in many directions
yet none of them can I choose.
translated by Jaihiun Kim & Ronald B. Hatch
Dawn by Sowol Kim
On the pondside ankle-deep in the fallen leaves
trees cast their jagged shadows
while waters awaken a pale sheen.
I stand alone waiting
for the day to dawn.
Are there tender tears heavenly people shed,
like a rain-cloud, on their lonely dream pillows?
My sweet, why don’t you come, shy and soft,
over to me across the waters?
A cloud braces against the evening skies.
A half moon holds a wake in mid-heaven.
translated by Jaihiun Kim & Ronald B. Hatch
Song: Thoughts of a Traveler on the Chikuma River by Shimazaki Toson
Yesterday it was this way too–
today again it will be like this.
Why fret your life away
forever worrying about tomorrow?
How many times have I gone down into the valley
where dreams of glory and decay still linger,
seen the uncertain drift of the river waves,
sand-laden water that circles and returns?
Ah, what is the old castle saying?
What do the waves along the shore reply?
Be still and consider the ages gone by–
a hundred years are like yesterday
Chikuma River willows are hazy,
spring is shallow, the water flows on.
Alone I wander over the rocks,
binding my sorrows to this shore
translated by Hiroaki Sato & Burton Watson
untitled poem by Ryokan
All through the night
in my grass hut
burning brushwood,
how we talked on and on–
when will I forget it?
translated by Hiroaki Sato & Burton Watson
Long Winter Night by Ryokan
I remember when I was young
reading alone in an empty hall,
again and again refilling the lamp with oil,
never minding then how long the winter night was.
translated by Hiroaki Sato & Burton Watson
Leonard Durso 