Bamboo and Plum Blossom

Bamboo and Plum Blossom

Bamboo and Plum Blossom

Bamboo and Plum Blossom
Bamboo and Plum Blossom

Friday, November 21, 2014

Midang Sŏ Chŏng-ju (1915-2000)

Beside a chrysanthemum

 

For one chrysanthemum to bloom

the nightingale

must have wept like that since spring.

 

For one chrysanthemum to bloom

the thunder

must have rolled like that in sombre clouds

 

Chrysanthemum! You look like my sister

standing before her mirror, just back

from far away, far away byways of youth,

where she was racked with longing and lack.

 

For your yellow petals to bloom

the frost must have come down like that last night

and I was not able to get to sleep.

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