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Beloved scrap

by Kim Ji-hago link Translated by Won-Chung Kimgo link November 1, 2015

Author Bio 작가 소개

김지하

Kim Ji-ha

Kim Ji-ha

When a dry leaf
blows into the edge of the floor,
say that my beloved comes.
When an ant
crawls into the edge of the floor,
say that my beloved comes.
The big world, the huge universe,
people, animals, grass, insects,
soil, water, air, wind, the sun, the moon, and stars
have all worked together to prepare this steamed rice.
So, before this bowl of rice,
please say day and night
that all my beloved have come to me.
When a guest comes,
please spread wide a figured brocade
in your mind
from the floor to the doorway.
 


                                            

                                                                                 Translated by Kim Won-Chung

Writer 필자 소개

Kim Ji-ha

Kim Ji-ha

Kim Ji-ha (4 February 1941 – 8 May 2022) was a South Korean poet and playwright.

Translator 번역가 소개

Won-Chung Kim

Won-Chung Kim

Won-Chung Kim, professor of English literature at Sungkyunkwan University in Seoul, has translated twelve books of Korean poems into English, including Kim Ji-ha’s Heart’s Agony. He has also translated John Muir’s My First Summer in the Sierra and Henry David Thoreau’s The Natural History Essays into Korean. He published his first book of poetry, I Thought It Was a Door, in 2014.

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