Windowpane 1 (정지용, 유리창 1)

Windowpane 1

I see a glimmer in the windowpane,
A glimmer, cold and sad.
I, standing blankly, blow on it, blow on it—
Clouding the glass: The glass clouding,
The road beats its frozen wings. The road its frozen
The road's benumbed wings beating.

I wipe the glass and look,
And wipe and look again;
For the dark waves of night
Keep coming in and going out,
Lapping the windowpane.

The glass is set with watery stars, twinkling. Stars, watering and twinkling, in the glass are set. Moist stars, twinkling, are set in the glass.
Set in the glass are moist stars, twinkling.
In solitary abstraction at night
I wipe the glass alone.
Alas! he has flown flew away.
With the rupture of blood vessels in his chest,
Blood vessels of his chest burst,
he had flown flew away like as a wild bird.

Jung Ji-Yong
Translated by Gene

Thorn of Passion

In my heart I had
the thorn of passion.
One day I pulled it out.
Now I feel no heart.

Antonio Machado
Translated by Willis Barnstone

Chrysanthemum 미당 서정주 국화 옆에서

This is one of the Korean poems that are close to my heart. I used to know the poet. A great man! All too human! When you get to know him, you get to know what it is like being a Korean. Here is my translation of one of his poems. I had never thought I would attempt to translate it into English - for I had thought it was an impossible task, especially this particular poem - until I read Brother Anthony's translation of it. I was slightly ticked off. His translation is not bad, but I don't feel the rhythm of the original in it. Mine may not be up to par but I feel closer to the original with my own translation. I'm still working on it, so you'll see the progress as it develops.

First, Brother Anthony's:

For one chrysanthemum to bloom
the nightingale
must have wept like that since spring.

For one chrysanthemum to bloom
the thunder
must have rolled like that in sombre clouds

Chrysanthemum! You look like my sister
standing before her mirror, just back
from far away, far away byways of youth,
where she was racked with longing and lack.

For your yellow petals to bloom
the frost must have come down like that last night
and I was not able to get to sleep.

And here is my translation. I'm only halfway through, and I have blank verse in mind.

Perhaps it was for a Chrysanthemum
The Cuckoo started singing so in spring.

Perhaps it was for a Chrysanthemum
The thunder Thunder rolled so in dark clouds. (01-13-09)

Sweet Flower! my sister do I see in you,
My sister, having left the lonely path
Of bygone youth behind,
With all its heartaches, missing and longing for,
Now standing before her looking glass.

Perhaps it was for yellow petals of yours to bloom
It hailed Hail was falling so last night
And I was kept kept me awake.

I will finish it when I'm drunk some other time. Done! (01-14-09) But I'm still not happy with it at all. I will come back and work on it again some other time. *** Drafts are born to cry for revisions.***

So Chong-Joo (1915-2000)

Ah! this picture is as I remember him when I saw him before I left Korea.

First they came for someone else.

Valery Tumbayev

First they came for the Jews
and I did not speak out -
because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for the communists
and I did not speak out -
because I was not a communist.
Then they came for the trade unionists
and I did not speak out -
because I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for me -
and there was no one left to speak out for me.

Martin Niemöller

To this I'd like to add:

Then they came for the Palestinians,
and I did not speak out -
because I was not a Palestinian.

Then they came for me -
and there was no one left to speak out for me.

Listening

Gregory Colbert

VLADIMIR: Silence!
ESTRAGON: I hear something.
POSSO: Where?
VLADIMIR: It's the heart.
POZZO: (disappointed) Damnation!
VLADIMIR: Silence!

Back in Heaven

Johann Fournier

Back to Heaven

I will go now, and go back to Heaven;
The morning dew and I -
The morning dew that dies as touched
With dawning sunlight's gleams -
We will go there hand in hand.

I will go now, and go back to Heaven,
Twilight and I -
Playing on the shore -
Signaled by Cloud, When the Cloud gives us a wave,
We will leave, and go there together.

I will go now, and go back to Heaven,
Drawing to a close my sojourn here,
This beautiful world;
And back in Heaven will I say,
"It was beautiful, my sojourn there. . ."

Ch'on Sang-Pyung
Translated by Gene

(One will see that my translation of this Korean poem is quite different from Brother Anthony's. I wouldn't venture to say that my translation is better than his. It's just that my sensibility urges me so and translate it the way it is above.)