길을 잃었다 가도 가도 그냥 모래뿐이었다
고비 사막이었다
반가워라
모래에 묻혔다 나온 백골

장차 내 백골 따위
어디쯤에서
뒷세상의 길이 될까

가슴이 두근두근 오아시스가 가까웠다

-고은

I was lost – an endless ocean of sand no matter where I went
the Gobi Desert
embrace it
buried in the sand – a skeleton appeared

soon it would be my skeleton like that
somewhere
possibly on the road to the next world

my heart pounded for an oasis was near

-Ko Un

—————

In December I gave the copy of Flowers of a Moment that I was translating as a thank-you gift to the kind woman who was my medical translator during the preoperative appointments for my eye muscle surgery.  She was also with me on the day of the surgery.  I will always be extremely grateful to her for all of her help.

Needless to say, for some strange reason, I never purchased a new copy of the book, so I was unable to finish the translation project.  This week I finally obtained a new copy and plan to finish the translation by the end of June.