Cherry
Mother said, from inside the Paulownia tree,
Before coming out and handing over a handful of gold,
“Child, please give me salt. Please give me salt.”
Clambering up cliffs these days
The moment I notice the cherries are ripe,
Last year’s snow on the fir trees
Strikes my forehead like wind-blown sand.
“Child, it is no use, even though the cherries are well-ripened,
I do not have any hands to receive them.”
The Cuckoo should not have cried
Mother disappeared after weeping tears of blood all the night through
after weeping tears of blood all the night through
Because my sisters, raised on cloud-milk,
Were not strong in their bodies.
The next day I saw little sisters
hanging in clusters on the cherry branches
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by Poet, Chang, SeokJoo
The poet, Seok-Ju Chang, was born in Non-San, Chung-Cheong-Nam-Do, South Korea, in January 8, 1955. His first published
work was “Midnight” that he received new and emerging poet award from Monthly Literature in 1975. In 1979, he awarded his poem, “Fly, Gloomy Dream” inChosun Il-Bo, Spring Literature and Dong-A-Il-Bo, Spring Literature, Critique, “Existence and Unrealism”.
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Translated by Clara Soonhee Kwon-Tatum, Ph.D and Matthew Lewis, MA
