A Man’s Heart -Write by Lee, Jeonglock

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A Man’s Heart : Father School 1

 

Son, look at the surface of Yedang lake:
A million pyung* of ice –

It is so even and smoothe, isn’t it?
By the way, if you flip over a piece of cracked ice,
It is like a field torn up by a drunken cow:
Bumpy, uneven, and rough
That’s the way a man’s heart is.
Roughness is not bad,
Because, from the perspective of the fish below,
It is easier to breathe through the holes in the ice,
And the melody of water lapping against fresh air is good,
The fish are more comfortable under the ice, aren’t they?

When father gets angry and loses his temper,
It is like the ice breaking,
Once I cracks,
it becomes easier for you and your mother to breathe.
Like flames bursting up from the wood fire,
That burn quickly and then die down,
A shout lets the anger out.
You are also a one-million-pyung man, aren’t you?

 

* pyung: a unit of measurement equal to approximately 3.3 square meters

 

— from Father School (Yeollimwon, 2012)

 

 

사내 가슴

– 아버지학교 1

아들아, 저 백만 평 예당저수지 얼음판 좀 봐라. 참 판판하지? 근데 말이다. 저 용갈이* 얼음장을 쩍 갈라서 뒤집어보면, 술지게미에 취한 황소가 삐뚤빼뚤 갈아엎은 비탈밭처럼 우둘투둘하니 곡절이 많다. 그게 사내 가슴이란 거다. 울뚝불뚝한 게 나쁜 것이 아녀. 물고기 입장에서 보면, 그 틈새로 시원한 공기가 출렁대니까 숨쉬기 수월하고 물결가락 좋고, 겨우내 얼마나 든든하겄냐? 애비가 부르르 성질부리는 거, 그게 다 엄니나 니들 숨 쉬라고 그러는 겨. 장작불도 불길 한번 솟구칠 때마다 몸이 터지지. 쩌렁쩌렁 소리 한번 질러봐라. 너도 백만 평 사내 아니냐?

 

* 용갈이: 용이 밭을 간 것과 같다는 뜻으로 두꺼운 얼음판이 갈라져 생긴 금.

『아버지학교』2012 열림원

 

 

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