소금
아주 깊이 아파본 사람마냥
바닷물은 과묵하다
사랑은 증오보다 조금 더 아픈 것이다
현무암보다 오래된 물의 육체를 물고 늘어지는
저 땡볕을 보아라
바다가 말없이 품고 있던 것을
토해낸다
햇빛이 키우는 것은 단 하나다
한 방울의 물마저 탈수한 끝에 생긴
저 단단한 물의 흰 뼈들
저 벌판에 낭자한 물의 흰 피들
염전이 익히는 물의 석류를 보며
비로소 고백한다, 증오가
사랑보다 조금 더 아픈 것이었음을
아주 오래 깊이 아파본 사람이
염전 옆을 천천히 지나간다
어쩌면 그는 증오보다 사랑을 키워가는
사람일지도 모른다
.
Salt
Like someone who is deeply scarred
The ocean is heavy with silence.
Loving is more painful than hating.
Look at the glare of the summer heat
Biting the ocean’s body (older than basalt) and hanging on.
The ocean vomits up
what once it silently embraced.
What sunshine grows is only one thing,
Created by the drying of even a drop of water:
The hard water’s white bones
The dots of white blood, scattered across the plains
Of a salt field, baking in the sun
Looking like pomegranate seeds.
I finally confess,
Hatred was a little more painful than love
A person, in pain for so long,
Passes slowly by the salt field.
Maybe he is the kind who will breed
More love than hatred.
.
Footnotes: Americans often think of pomegranates solely in terms of their juice. However, the actual fruit of the pomegranate, its tightly-packed seeds, is more familiar to Koreans, and is what is being referenced here.
시인 장석주 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”.
.
Translated by Clara Soonhee Kwon-Tatum, Ph.D and Matthew Lewis, MA
