Candlelight / 촛불

Korean Poetry & English Translation

촛불

어찌할까
책들은
아름답고 구조화 된 단어를 내뱉는
환상일 뿐이라면

나라는
금으로 된 수저를 물고 태어난
자들을 위한 기회의
땅이라면
강단 뒤에는
꼭두각시가 웃음을 짓고
대본에서 대사를 암송하듯
독실한 열정으로 실을 다룬다

참 진부한 이야기
아는 것은 오직 그들을 향해 고개 숙이는
머리들
이들 위에 발을 조심스레 얹은다
마치
디딤돌처럼

그러다
불타는 별들은 거리에서 춤을 추기 시작한다
회색 길가는 사라지며
더이상 볼 수 없게 되고
땅은 빛나는 잔물결로 변하며
따뜻한 누르스름한 빛을 낸다

그러면서도
어찌할까
세상에는 꼭두각시들이 수도 없이 많고
어찌할까
다른 수치들이 또
드러나
사람들이 누그러뜨린 주머니 속 깊이
담겨둔 촛불에
불을 붙인다면
언제까지
별들은 춤을 춰야 하는 걸까

Candlelight

What to do
when textbooks are nothing but an illusion
spouting beautiful, structured words of how
things should be

When
a nation is a land of opportunity
for those born clutching polished, golden
spoons
And behind the podium
smiles a marionette
Reciting words from a script
The strings handled with religious fervor

A clichéd story
For all their life, only knowing
the crowns of heads that bow to them, placing
their dainty feet on these bent heads, like
stepping stones

But then
Fiery stars begin dancing in the streets, the
gray cement disappearing,
invisible
The ground shifts in shimmering ripples, glowing
in a warm, medallion light

And yet
What to do
when life is full of marionettes
What to do
When another mishap
is revealed, igniting the
candlelight people store deep inside their
melted pockets
How much longer
must the stars keep on dancing

Previously published in Aerie International – Spring 2017

By Soo Young Yun

Biography:

Soo Young Yun is a writer from Seoul, South Korea and has been recognized by the Scholastic Art and Writing Awards, Origami Poems Project, Ann Arbor District Library, Writing for Peace, and Skipping Stones Youth Honor Awards. Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in Aerie International, Burningword Literary Journal, DUENDE, Emerald Coast Review, Hawai’i Review, Red Weather, The Vignette Review, among other journals and anthologies.