Bidding Farewell by Chong Chi-sang

A single leaf falls in the yard.
Near my desk, crickets chirp sadly.
I know I cannot hold you here.
I wonder where your journey will take you.
My longing will follow you to where the mountains end,
As I seek you in my dream on a moonlit night.
When the spring river ripples green along the bank,
I beg you not to forget your promise to return.

translated by Sung-Il Lee

On a Spring Day by Wang Paek

After last night’s fog soaked my thatched roof,
Peach blossoms near the bamboo are suddenly in full bloom.
Drunk with wine, I forget the snowy streaks of my hair—
I wear a flowery crown, standing in the spring breeze.

translated  by Sung-Il Lee

Metals by Anton Arrufat

What do you think of the word metal?
Do you like it?
If I say,
the metal of your voice,
do you like it?
Metal sounds,
shimmers, endures.
Gleams in the dirt
of excavations.
“It’s a metal,” says
the Egyptologist’s helper.
A metal in Etruria,
in Uxmal,
in the remote
city of Ur.
A metal,
the metal of your voice.

translated by Katherine M. Hedeen