Picture: Namsook Han
Mother at Dawn
At Juk-Cheon seashore
Mother in the fresh dawn
Gathers up from the water
The brown seaweed washed ashore all night
By the ocean waves
She savors the sickly smell of the seashore
Her breasts, swollen taut, begin to shake red
With dreams steeped in the dawn fog
In her skinny arms, she carries a big basin
Full of seaweed, like a young girl
Early every morning
Mother comes out swiftly, the net of daily life
Tightening around her
Her steps are more lively than the flick of fish fins
Her worries, tied up in a bundle, run away
Salty, fishy smells are washed away
By waves deep in her heart
The crescent moon remains in the sky
Not setting yet
On her way to a town
She gives off a sea smell
Silently
Mother becomes a bright morning
Note. Juk-Cheon Town, Pohang
By Poet, Soonja Kwon, born in 1958, poetry 『A Thousand Tears』 etc.
Translatey Clara Soonhee Kwon-Tatum, Ph.D and Matthew Lewis, M.Ad b
