4 Translated Kim Seung-hee Poems

By and | 16 August 2019

A Bone Caught in the Throat

A bone caught in the throat,
a fractured bone, 3,000 joints caught in the body
looking like someone’s face
looking like someone’s words lingering in my ears
a bone caught in the throat
a bone that no medication will melt
a bone like the diary where I write sad history day by day.

The bone caught in the throat on Monday
is still caught there on Wednesday and Thursday
the bone caught in the throat on Tuesday is sure to stay caught until Sunday.
Returning to Monday
the bone that lamented and wept beside me
as I clung to the ground, clung to the sky and wept
late at night in the wilderness

The sky of mourning devoid of mourning
in the wilderness
the bone caught in the throat
on Monday, on Tuesday, on Thursday, on Friday, on Saturday
all those bones
pipe as they rattle when the wind brushes past
so ultimately the human instrument emits the sound of its bones being shaken
as it weeps.


목에 걸린 뼈

목에 걸린 뼈
3천 마디 몸에 걸린 골절의 뼈
누구의 얼굴을 닮은 것도 같고
누구의 말이 귓가에 남은 것도 같은데
목에 걸린 뼈
어느 약물로도 녹지 않는 뼈
매일매일 슬픈 역사를 적는 일기장 같은 뼈

월요일에 목에 걸린 뼈는
수요일에도 목요일에도 목에 걸려 있고
화요일에 목에 걸린 뼈는 어쩌면 일요일까지도 걸려 있고
다시 월요일로 와서
깊은 밤 광야에서
땅을 붙들고 하늘을 붙들고 울 때
곁에서 통탄하며 울던 뼈

애도 없는 애도의 하늘
광야에서
월요일에도 화요일에도 목요일에도 금요일에도 토요일에도
목에 걸린 뼈, 뼈들이
바람 소리에 피리 소리를 내며 덜그덕거리고 있는데

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