skip-navigation

한국문학번역원 로고

TOP

Korean Literature Now

Back to Poetry

Song of Peace scrap

by Hwang Tong-gyugo link October 28, 2015

Author Bio 작가 소개

황동규

Hwang Tong-gyu

Hwang Tong-gyu is a professor emeritus at Seoul National University and chairperson of the literature department at the National Academy of Arts. He was a visiting professor at UC Berkeley and NYU, and participated in the University of Iowa's International Writing Program. He has received the Lee San Literature Prize, Daesan Literary Award, Midang Literary Award, and Eungwan Order of Cultural Merit. His books of poems have been translated into English, German, French, and Spanish.

I’m told
we are a puny race.
Doors locked even in daytime,
bathing our eyes with “Trust Drops,”
we read light essays, hugging the stove.
Dragging the anguish of no place to hide
like a soldier with one or two chevrons on the arm,
you travel the country from Kimhae to Hwachon,*
winter fatigues hanging on you,
a canteen flapping at your side.
 
Wherever you turn, barbed wire,
at every wire, a checkpoint.
I do not understand this love,
this smothering jealous love.
 
I spread my gloved hands, palms up.
Snow falling for some time now,
a snow colder than snow.


 
*From Kimhae to Hwachon: from the southernmost part to the northernmost part of South Korea.

Writer 필자 소개

Hwang Tong-gyu

Hwang Tong-gyu

Hwang Tong-gyu is a professor emeritus at Seoul National University and chairperson of the literature department at the National Academy of Arts. He was a visiting professor at UC Berkeley and NYU, and participated in the University of Iowa's International Writing Program. He has received the Lee San Literature Prize, Daesan Literary Award, Midang Literary Award, and Eungwan Order of Cultural Merit. His books of poems have been translated into English, German, French, and Spanish.

Did you enjoy this article? 별점

Did you enjoy this article? Please rate your experience

Send