Empty Space

By Oh Chang Ryeol
 

Translated by Rodney E. Tyson & Hong Eun-Taek

The Quarterly Review: Poetry & Criticism, 3(1), 230-231. Spring 2000.

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        Sunlight that glimmered on a bird's wings causes flowers on the crape myrtle to bloom. The leaves which have always been in the setting don't blame their position. It's been a long time since the bird left, so there is no bird here, and there is also no figure of the bird that was leaving, and I who was gazing at the bird am also gone. In the sunlight that falls as it did long ago, even the thought that the bird left breaks into pieces. It breaks and scatters. The empty space is clear and lucid. Only, between the bird and me a clear space has come into being. Oh bird that doesn't leave anymore, now even if you never come back it will be fine with me. Ringing in the narrow space between the bird and me, the crape myrtle flowers bloom. Without knowing they are gone, the flowers bloom again and again.

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The Quarterly Review: Poetry & Criticism | Curriculum Vitae