(translated from the Korean by geul)

Of what dynasty
could the tarnished green copper mirror be a relic
that my face lingering within it
brings on such disgrace

*

Let’s reduce the confession to a single line.
— Twenty four years and one month
for what happiness have I lived?

*

 Tomorrow or the day after or on any joyful day
I have to write another line of my confessions.
— Then, at that young age
why did I make such a shameful confession?

*

Each night let’s clean the mirror
with the palm of my hand, with the sole of my foot.

 *

Then the back of a sad person
walking alone under some shooting star
appears in the mirror.

poem in Korean