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.

시베리아 혹한만을 말하지 말자
시베리아 폭염 속
썩어버린 잉어가시 하얗게 빛나더라

-고은

Let’s not speak only of Siberia’s bitter cold.
Inside of a Siberian heat wave
bones of rotten carp gleamed white.

-Ko Un

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Unfortunately, I fell behind on my Ko Un translation project this week due to my eye surgey; I hope to finish the book by the end of next week.  This is poem 157 from Flowers of a Moment, which is a small volume of poetry by Korean author Ko Un that I am currently translating into English.

첫 빗방울
툭 떨어지며 후박나무 잎사귀
깨어난다
이어서
이 잎사귀도
저 잎사귀도

-고은

when the first raindrops fall
silver magnolia leaves awaken
one at a time
this leaf
and that leaf too

-Ko Un

———————————–

This is poem 145 from Flowers of a Moment, which is a small volume of poetry by Korean author Ko Un that I am currently translating into English.