I'd like to buy her some toffee
but I don't have a daughter
as I pass a sidewalk store in autumn.
* * *
Exhausted
the mother has fallen asleep
so her baby is listening all alone
to the sound of the night train.
* * *
Frogs croaking in flooded paddies—
if there really is a world beyond,
echo far enough so my dead brother can hear.
* * *
A boat whistles in the night.
For a moment I too long to sail away
but merely pull the blanket up over the kids.
—Ko Un
Translated, from the Korean, by Brother Anthony of Taize, Young-moo Kim, and Gary Gach.
(Alf, please skip.)
2 comments:
I wouldn't buy her toffee,
even if i had a daughter,
as the poet sticks with autumn.
***
Excited,
the daughter has grown up,
so her mother is listening all alone,
for the sound of the steps on the way home.
***
rain pitapating on misted windows,
if there really is a world inside,
hit heavy enough so my lost friend can wake up.
***
a river gurgles in the early morning,
at this moment too cold to swallow,
but merely hurries on the way across the boundaries.
Well done.
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