** Three Stanzas on Silver on Silver Cats' Tails** 1 You are Jdnah's cry in fall In the transitory sky above the Black Sea Just like an illusion of the deadly Sun You resemble purple flames at time And,at other times, white-Blue thunder balls That tear apart the black clduds veiling the sun, Which are blocking Heaven's brightness. You are the lamenting Parade accompanying a funeral, Going along the road to Tae-Jang-Mt. So-Baek. 2You are old Assyrisn soldiers With their hardened soul of Nineveh Swaying to the rhythm of our faltering era. 3 You are the conscripted men. And comfort-girls from Korea Who were violated the Japanese Militarism In the battle fields df Guam, Okinawa And other island of the South Pacific, So desperatelycalling out the names of their families. Yoy are the art of fencing in hell Whiring swords as skinny skeltons remain on the earth, In the Autumnal winds of the Peninsula You have come back to the tombs of the beloved Buried inthe hillside of Yegogae, Singing a mournful tune, Silver cats' tails you are! Silver cats' tails you are! ** The Cats' Tails in Seo-Gui-Po ** Sparrow! Would you cone and live at the tail-end of the counyry? Worms you live in the leaves of cats' tails, too You eats dew drops, sing songs in the moonlight Like an old singer from the countryside, During the daytime, You calmly yearn for peace within its leaves Upon which the sun shines mildly. Sparrow! Do sing me a somg. Though the sad wind rises from a part of the Pacific, And blows on the in Seo-Gui-Po, Do give me a song. To pay tribute to the spirit of our country For protecting the land of our ancestors, From the Manchurian to Mt. Halla. Calming down their qhite hearts Touching their lives one by one Just like the cats' tails scattered all around. ** The Grove of Cats' Tails on Mara Island ** The Wind lay sleeping in the plain of Mara Island, It blew through the grove of cats' tails and flew into the sky to its hometown far away, It calls out to the Korean-draftees, Students-soldiers, comfort-girls And the King of Nippon's subordinates. Calling a typhoon, It spreads its wings Though its body has died Its soul sends its wishes across the sea. So it blow ceaselessly, Letting down its gray hair, Over the plain of Mara Island. ** Railroad Crossing at Won-Dang Village ** I have moved onto the 2nd Dong, Ha-Mang Going across a lailroad line at Won-Dang village At time I don't even happen to meet A sphinx Without my suffering steps The railroad line, I should cross carefully is Like the only one We cross in life. While a train loading a destiny comes in on either side of the railroad. But I don't know When it goes by, Anytime, whenever I come and go with my child It shackles a riddle on my ankles And asks if I know where my crossing spot is. A deep, earthshaking moment as in a battle field When my small body is swallowing up a fear, The warder lifts a breaker mechanically And finerly by the time I go over border in purgatory, The train, as a monster, bursts into sound furiously And goes round ferfectly the inside of the valley of Mt. So-Baek On the railroad Waves of heat is burning up over Two kinds of question shine like the edges of swords at execution ground. The train goes out of my sight about a white-sky. ** The San-Zo of Cats'Tails ** You are The Twelve-stringed instrument of Ga-Ya-geum, That even Woo-Lddk couldn't play, All the dynastic regrets of my country. You shake and wake up in the white gourd flowers during the night, You are a sound which Norumi Thinks df in the moonlit night, You are silenced by the winds. If the field of cats' tails are shinier in the moonlit night. It's because their life has been reinvigorated With the ether of 28 stars from across the universe. At night when nature falls asleep, The great history Gye-Cheon by Dan-Gun Which we will sing about until morning,comes into bloom The field of cats' tails appears in the season of the sleeping dragon, And it part of the dream of the phoenix, Phong Whong. ** The Night with The Oppressive Heat ** -Gazing at The Event of 'Oh-Dae-Yang'- Due to my worry over the Oh-Dae-Yang accident I stayed up all night with nothing on as it is oppressively hot, Scratching my mosquito-bitten naked body. I seized a fly-swatter in my hand and my glance is that of Ahab's thirsting for revenge. After I amplify my hostility with a murderous spirit, I aim at a bloodsucking-mosquito. Kyung-Her was singing a song to perceive a truth, And he made worms stick all over his body and suck his blood But I can't go and do what he did, Before the heat of the three dog days are gone. After having swallowed the blood, In whose ser the white whale hiders its body And sharpens his teeth with joy In the five boundless oceans. Do you know where he is? Hot and itchy, I couldn't sleep a wink lastnight. Snap! A winning hit full of wrath is struck. But, What a wonderful creature! The mosquito turning a somersault, vanished out of radar sight, I feel fearful that I can't Locate The creature that is watching for my flesh at every dead angle. Blow fast! fast! The thousands of wavers of the five oceans make me dizzy And the night-for is impenetrable In this stuffy night, Blow fast! The green wind from the Heaven. The green wind..... ** The Written Mutual Consent between South and North-Korea ** I cried while I watched the nightly news The lasting regret forgotten deep in my heart, An extinct volcano, having no sense, Suddenly vibrates and comes back to life, Eventually vomiting up buried history. I cried, watching the news tonight Because it reminds me of folks in the country left behind, Which is embodied by the couple divided by the South and the North. With both parents and their children having wrinkled faces, With the pupil harboring a grudge, And it reminds me of the tragic Korean-War, The sobbing figures of my brethen With the remains of those who died in a strange land in their arms, And because it often reminds me of the grand mother's figure on TV. Who used to be used as a comfort-girl by Japan while young, Now, she cries with a bitter voice: "Japan! compensate for my youth, my life!" On December 13, 1991. Seeing that two prime Ministers, in brotherhood have consented To "The written Mutual Consent" And in grasping each other's hand powerfully with a smile, I hope that the South and North will be one as ever. The lasting regrets forgotten deep in the heart of history, Surged to the surfaces again like an active volcano. And at that time, I realized The rainbow thriving in my eyelids has lingered for too long. ** The Tea-Bowl Made by Wol-Pa ** In Bek-Ro season I passed by a dew-laden gate To see Wol-Pa in Se-Jae Where I can look at the tea-bow1 Named "The Autumn Mountain" made by Wol-Pa, God's creature,Wol-Pa was recreated picturesquely dn it. Giving a chance to the descendant,a change once again to gain The wisdom of things accomplished long,long ago. Today,while I become familiar with the old aroma of tea Taking a seat opposite to your soul, Wol- Pa's plain hand pours the stream of pure tea Which turns into the string of Ga-ya-Geum And that subtly lets itself hum a song, 'Dong-Da- song', A chant of admiring Korean tea by Cho-Euy.