A Life’s Catalogue
An old monk says that before he returns to the earth,
He should return to this world
Everything he owns except for his tears.
In his room
He keeps
A blanket like a cloud
A pillow like a raindrop
A robe like the wind
A spoon like a teardrop
A teacup like the sea
The sutras like fallen leaves
A pair of chopsticks
Facing each other like extremities
And an old staff
Tapping on the as-yet untrodden road.
Lee, San-ha 1987, when he was active in the propaganda of Democratization Movement Youth Union, Lee San-ha announced the epic poem, which reveals the genocide and truth of ‘Jeju 4 · 3
Translated by 전승희 Seung-Hee Jeon
(literary critic and translator, editor of Asia: A Magazine of Asian Literature)
