A poem by Kim Gwang-seop:
개성
빈천한 묏골에서
하나의 돌맹이로 태어 나서커
다란 바위가 되지 못할지라도
또한
하나의 시내로서 흘러서
넓은 바다에 이르지 못할지라도
그대는 무한에 비상하는 순간을 가지라
My feeble effort at translation, with lots of doubts and confusions and caveats:
Individuality
from poor dead bones
born and raised as a lone pebble
unable to become the great rock
also
flowing as a lone stream
unable to arrive at the wide sea
you hold an extraordinary moment to reach infinity
A more professional translation, by someone who goes by the name “Doc Rock” online (but who is apparently a PhD in Korean Lit):
Individuality
Though from an impoverished mountain valley,
Born as a pebble
Never to be a great boulder
Or
Flowing like a stream
Never to be wide as a sea
You will have moments to soar limitlessly
Why am I attempting this kind of thing, when I still can’t put together a coherent sentence most of the time? I just feel like doing it, I guess.