A LIFE Sentence/ by Cho Young‑Min

[김세연]

A LIFE Sentence

                                      by Cho Young‑Min*

The sunset glow over the way to my hometown

Falls into decay on the tin roof;

The tinkle of a brass bell sounds

As the leaves flap in the wind.

My mother's face is obscured by lots of wrinkles.

As I touch my mother's rough and dry hand

It feels like an iron rake and a twig,

The moonlight clouds over.

The moon seems to be trying to break through the clouds,

Passing through the furrows of her brow, but it fails.

Until wearing a graduation cap,

None of her children visited their moon­like mother

Who is confined within a steel door.

What terrible crime

Did she commit in her previous existence?

This evening she is sitting by me,

As if she is on probation for a moment.

My mother, who is serving a life sentence

In a prison called 'family' because she is a 'mother',

Without knowing when the sentence will end,

Wears a feeble smile

As she packs me a bundle of fresh-picked corn.

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'THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD, MOTHER'S LOVE'('세상의 빛, 어머니의 사랑'-영문판(권혁승 편집, 정은출판)-(조영민 시인 ‘종신형’ 영문 번역)

* He is a poet. He received the Baekgyo Literature Grand Award.

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