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08/29/2010 12:15:34 AM · #1 |
Sad poem from an old Korean poet. Let us all share, this may even be a challenge topic to consider, ie given a poem, photographically interpret it.
SMILE WAS MY ONLY FAULT
I only gave him
Directions for his road
I only gave him a bowlful of water
I had drawn from the well
I only smiled
'Cause he thanked
I don't care
If the sun doesn't rise
Over Pyongyang Castle.
The smile
Was my only fault
Kim Dong-Hwan |
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08/29/2010 01:02:35 AM · #2 |
That's lovely! I've often thought of proposing a challenge to interpret something in a specific poem. One I had in mind was Yeats' Sailing to Byzantium. Lot of imagery to work with there.
When it comes to foreign poems, I have a very early, unexpurgated translation of The Thousand Nights and a Night, and it contains a haunting poem that starts "Love at my door / Knocked, and I gave him bed. / When sleep saw this / He took offense and fled. / "Give me back sleep; Where has he gone?" I said."
In this poem is a verse that contains the highest possible praise of a woman, by a man; so much so, I'm amazed anyone else ever has bothered trying :-) And remember, this was done *thousands* of years ago. I'm typing this from memory, but I think I have it right:
See for yourselves!
Even Allah, like a lover
From molten threads
Of the syrup of life wove her,
Then made all gems
And fruits with what was over.
Then, later,
It's not that time
Has passed, but that so has she,
It's not that love
Won't last, but that nor will she,
Not that life's gone,
But that she's gone from me.
Hell of a song. Hell of a book. Can't recommend it enough. The Powrys Mathers translation. One of the masterpieces of prose translation into the English language, and a glimpse into a world, and a way of thinking, that we cannot even imagine in our more "enlightened" age.
R.
Message edited by author 2010-08-29 01:02:54.
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08/29/2010 01:23:03 PM · #3 |
Great work Robt! I just love poetry, and I am intrigued by poets from a foreign culture.
The first Korean poem speaks of the tragedy where, believe me to this day, a woman is raped, she is at fault. She is the one wronged because she was wrong.
This new one speaks of the universal truth that we will forget, as a rule, many things, but the effects of true love and the hurt caused by it will stay with us always. The simplicity of Korean poetry lures many a reader to misread the intent, the deeper meaning and the practical value as a means of communicating values, culture, hardship, beauty and pain to mention some.
CANNOT FORGET
You will remember
'cause you can not forger.
Let a lifetime pass
As it is.
Someday you'll forget.
You will remember
'cause you cannot forget.
Let the seasons flow
As it is , as it is.
You'll forget some, If not all.
When Love makes me remember,
How shall I forget?
Kim So-Wol
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09/01/2010 03:42:05 PM · #4 |
every poem is
a foreign language
20 paces
to the chicken house
takes all morning
takes all morning
to decipher
one egg |
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09/01/2010 04:15:30 PM · #5 |
Yi Chongbo (1693-1766) (sasol sijo)
May my love become an alder tree
of Kumsong in Hoeyang, and
I an arrowroot vine in
the third month or fourth:
Like a spider's web around a butterfly,
the vine goes round the tree,
tightly this way, tightly that,
wrongly loosened, properly wound,
bound, then loosened from down below
all the way to the top,
tighty winding round and round
without a single gap, and
unchanging, day and night,
it's coiled around, twisting.
****************
Prince Inp'yong (1622-1658) (sijo)
Don't mock a pine
twisted and bent by the winds.
Flowers in the spring wind,
can they keep their brilliance?
When wind blows and snow whirls,
you will call for me.
Though, in the heart of winter,
we bear wind, rain, snow, and frost,
could we ever be apart?
***********
I'm not familiar with modern Korean poetry, but I like the classic stuff...
R.
Message edited by author 2010-09-01 16:17:37.
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