Morning Words

By Lee Kee Chul

Translated by Rodney E. Tyson & Hong Eun-Taek

The Quarterly Review: Poetry & Criticism, 3(3), p. 168. Fall 2000.


To vomit such red words
How much did the flowers endure during the passing night?
How much did the roots press the leaves?
Their faces dyed red if only to touch the color
Those hot words of flowers

The day always brings along an infant morning
Next to it, the blades of grass awaken
And the night takes off the star nightclothes

There is no face as confident as that of the morning
Because all new life exists there
Beside the morning when green permeates my body,
I would be happy to wait for people

I want to give the flowers' words to all of the people I wait for
But the flowers' words cannot be translated
Those words drawn from trees
Those words drawn from green
Would be the most beautiful vowels in the world


The Quarterly Review: Poetry & Criticism | Curriculum Vitae