그를 버리다 (Leaving Him Behind)

By | 6 August 2011

The dead are dead but the living are still alive
so we light a fire in the midst of the eleventh month.
Twigs catch fire quickly, burn in a flash,
Thick sticks burn long but catch fire slowly,
Handfuls of dry leaves blaze up
then big branches burn lonesome, all alone.

The silently swelling grave mound
is like a nail in the heart
so we walk up and down, up and down but
that’s only walking up and down;
the remarkable void once the fire goes out.

Forgive us
that we keep rummaging in our empty pockets,
after burying you alone in the cold ground,
lighting a fire beside you,
straightening our clothes in the wind beside you.
Forgive us
that we go back down the hill alone,
that we go home alone.

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