When I Want to Die

By Lee Hyang Ji

Translated by Rodney E. Tyson & Hong Eun-Taek

Poem Gate. June 5, 2001.

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Pine trees are heavy-laden with pine cones
Butterflies fly in a flock and come down to sit on the wet earth
Red dragonflies flock together and dance in mid air
Vagabond mice march to the sea in a line
Whales in a group come up on a stretch of sand
At high tide in the mouth of a stream herring spring toward the moonlight
With their caudal fins salmon dig up the bed of the stream where they were born
Earthworms crawl in all directions on asphalt pavement
A thorn bird pricks her breast with a thorn with all her strength, they say
An old dog lies down under a tree in plain sight of his master
A man locks a door from inside and goes into an egg
And a shooting star draws a long, bright, single stroke diagonally

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