Fragments of Two Themes

By Kim Chun Soo

Translated by Rodney E. Tyson & Hong Eun-Taek

The Quarterly Review: Poetry & Criticism, 3(4), p. 165. Winter 2000.

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The Marsh

A long-lived, white-eyebrowed imugi^* died,
Transformed into a dragon, and went to heaven
And a brazen urn
Swallowed water and sank. Now
Duckweeds, water shields, dayflowers, and so on
Quarrel and share affection with each other
Above and below that,
 

The Mountain

The picture of a mountain he drew and gave to me
Is a deep lacquered reddish-brown.
Though there is no such mountain in this world
Each time I see it, it presses persistently on my shoulder.
It is the weight of something that does not exist.
 

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^*imugi: In Korean mythology, an imugi, which is sometimes translated as "python" or "boa constrictor," is a large serpent which lives in water and fails, despite its fervent desire, to be transformed into a dragon.

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