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Flower scrap

by Kim Chunsugo link October 19, 2014

Author Bio 작가 소개

김춘수

Kim Chunsu

Kim Chunsu was born in 1922 in Tongyeong. He studied at the Art Department of Nihon University in Japan. He has been a professor at Masan University and Kyungpook National University. He received the Asia Freedom Literature Prize and Korea Literary Prize, among others. His poetry collections include Clouds and Roses, The Swamp, Flag, Death of a Boy in Budapest, Possessed by Dostoyevsky, and the collections of selected poems The Snow Falling on Chagall’s Village and The Selected Poems of Kim Chun-soo. His most noted works are “The Flower,” “An Introductory Poem for a Flower,” and others.

Before I called her by name,
She was nothing but a gesture.

When I called her by name,
She came to me, a flower by me.

When I called her by name,
She came to me, a flower by me.

As I called her by name,
I would have someone call me by name as befits

This color, this fragrance
I would go to him, his flower by his voice.

We all yearn to become an unforgettable meaning,
You to me, I to you.

 

* Translated by Kim Uchang.
** Photo courtesy of Hyundaemunhak.

Writer 필자 소개

Kim Chunsu

Kim Chunsu

Kim Chunsu was born in 1922 in Tongyeong. He studied at the Art Department of Nihon University in Japan. He has been a professor at Masan University and Kyungpook National University. He received the Asia Freedom Literature Prize and Korea Literary Prize, among others. His poetry collections include Clouds and Roses, The Swamp, Flag, Death of a Boy in Budapest, Possessed by Dostoyevsky, and the collections of selected poems The Snow Falling on Chagall’s Village and The Selected Poems of Kim Chun-soo. His most noted works are “The Flower,” “An Introductory Poem for a Flower,” and others.

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