Beside a Chrysanthemum
To bring one chrysanthemum
to flower, the cuckoo has cried
since spring.
To bring one chrysanthemum to bloom,
thunder has rolled
through the black clouds.
Flower, like my sister returning
from distant, youthful byways
of throat-tight longing
to stand by the mirror:
for your yellow petals to open
last night such a frost fell,
and I could not sleep.
So Chongju · Collected English version
The Leper
Bitter to the leper
are sun and sky.
When the moon comes up
in the barley field,
the leper eats the child,
crying tears red as flowers
all through the night.
So Chongju · Collected English version
Like the Wind Leaving the Lotus
Sorry,
not utterly sorry,
just sorry enough
for parting,
not utter parting,
but for parting with the promise
of meeting again,
in the next life perhaps;
not like the wind
coming to the lotus,
but like the wind leaving there from;
not like the wind leaving
a couple of days ago,
but like the wind leaving
a couple of seasons back.
So Chongju · Collected English version
Winter Sky
With a thousand nights' dream
I have rinsed clear the gentle brow
of my heart's love,
to transplant it
into the heavens.
A fierce bird
knows, and in mimicry
arcs through the midwinter sky.
So Chongju · Collected English version