Like a Bamboo
If its tip is sharpened,
It becomes a spear.
If one end is bent slightly,
It becomes a hoe for weeding.
If holes are bored into its body,
It becomes a melodious flute.
If shaken by the wind,
It empties its insides to become stronger.
And, at last,
After blooming
Just once in 60 years,
It stops breathing.
I wish I could be like a bamboo.
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)
