The below is apparently a very famous poem in Korea. I find it notable that the author was imprisoned and tortured by the dictatorship in the 1960’s.
귀천 / 천상병
나 하늘로 돌아가리라.
새벽빛 와 닿으면 스러지는
이슬 더불어 손에 손을 잡고,
나 하늘로 돌아가리라.
노을빛 함께 단 둘이서
기슭에서 놀다가 구름 손짓하면은,
나 하늘로 돌아가리라.
아름다운 이 세상 소풍 끝내는 날,
가서, 아름다웠더라고 말하리라…..Back to Heaven
by Cheon Sang-Byeong
I’ll go back to heaven again.
Hand in hand with the dew
that melts at a touch of the dawning day,
I’ll go back to heaven again.
With the dusk, together, just we two,
at a sign from a cloud after playing on the slopes
I’ll go back to heaven again.
At the end of my outing to this beautiful world
I’ll go back and say: It was beautiful. . . .
(translation by someone who goes by “Brother Anthony“)
I took the picture below in April, 2010. Somewhere near Gwangju.
