Picture : Namsook Han
A Garden in the Air
The dump truck my brother used to drive
Was a huge tool to build a garden in the air
The road he used to use
Was dangerous as a cliff;
A mirage in the desert;
A hope that rose and sank in yellow sand storms
He smoothly crossed all the tough obstacles
By stubborn persistence
When he crashed in air combat training
Because of a late fall frost
He overcame this threat
With a smile like light on white snow
The smile on his round face
Was as warm as the pancakes
We used to make on days of the full moon
Even as he weakened
He worked doggedly
To hang highest hopes in the air
When his life of speed suddenly braked to a stop
He became a garden in the air
Hanging a mass of impossible hopes in the sky,
He gave those with shattered dreams something to grasp
The garden bore red fruit
From the dreams that his truck carried everywhere
By Poet, Soonja Kwon, born in 1958, poetry 『A Thousand Tears』 etc.
Translatey Clara Soonhee Kwon-Tatum, Ph.D and Matthew Lewis, M.A
