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Poetry

My Wife’s Magic

By Shim Bo-Seon
Translated from Korean by Brother Anthony of Taizé & Eun-Gwi Chung
Shim Bo-seon yearns for magic.

My wife is sad and
seeing my sad wife, I too am sad,
then as she answers her mother’s phone call, “Sure, we’re fine,”
the wife inside my wife grows sadder still.

I want to live in a world that’s perfect like magic.
The rabbit that came out of a hat
voluntarily goes back into the hat.
When I try to go into a mirror,
I wonder why the rigid surface stops me?

A mother abandons her child,
a job abandons a father,
a disease abandons a sick person and
a magician finally abandons his rabbit.

If a heartless house kicks a road out the door, saying, “You, get out,”
an illusion takes the road, holds it tight then abandons it straight.

Wanting to dye the whole world with sorrow,
my crying wife is stroking the edge of the table on and on.
Curious magic that I see for the first time.

『아내의 마술』, from 슬픔이 없는 십오 초. © Shim Bo-Seon. By arrangement with the author. Translation © 2014 by Eun-Gwi Chung and Brother Anthony of Taizé. All rights reserved. 

English Korean (Original)

My wife is sad and
seeing my sad wife, I too am sad,
then as she answers her mother’s phone call, “Sure, we’re fine,”
the wife inside my wife grows sadder still.

I want to live in a world that’s perfect like magic.
The rabbit that came out of a hat
voluntarily goes back into the hat.
When I try to go into a mirror,
I wonder why the rigid surface stops me?

A mother abandons her child,
a job abandons a father,
a disease abandons a sick person and
a magician finally abandons his rabbit.

If a heartless house kicks a road out the door, saying, “You, get out,”
an illusion takes the road, holds it tight then abandons it straight.

Wanting to dye the whole world with sorrow,
my crying wife is stroking the edge of the table on and on.
Curious magic that I see for the first time.

『아내의 마술』, from 슬픔이 없는 십오 초. © Shim Bo-Seon. By arrangement with the author. Translation © 2014 by Eun-Gwi Chung and Brother Anthony of Taizé. All rights reserved. 

아내의 마술

아내가 슬프고

슬픈 아내를 보고 있는 내가 슬프고

그때 온 장모님 전화 받으며, 그러엄 우린 잘 지내지, 하는

아내 속의 아내는 더 슬프다

 

마술처럼 완벽한 세상에서 살고 싶다

모자에서 나온 토끼가

모자 속으로 자청해서 돌아간다

내가 거울 속으로 들어가려 하면

딱딱한 면은 왜 나를 막는가

 

엄마가 아이를 버리고

직업이 아비를 버리고

병이 아픈 자를 버리고

마술사도 결국 토끼를 버리고

 

매정한 집이, 너 나가, 하며 문밖에 길을 쏟아버리자

미망(迷妄)이 그 길을 받아 품에 한번 꼭 안았다가 바로 버린다

 

온 세상을 슬픔으로 물들게 하려고

우는 아내가 식탁 모서리를 오래오래 쓰다듬고 있다

처음 보는 신기한 마술이다

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