Man Lives Until He Dies
How often do I ponder
Over what I live for?
Innocent of life as it were.
Though the stream
Empties into the ocean
I will not bend
Under the weight of
Workday cares.
Man lives and dies.
Yet I pause to think.
Like ant
Lost in building its shelter
In the warm spring sun,
I will live
Drunk with delight of living.
If man is born to live,
What should I worry?
Man lives till he dies.
– Kim Sowol [김소월] (1902-1934)
translated by Jaihiun Joyce Kim (from A Lamp Burns Low)
I rather liked this poem, that I ran across in translation here. I was very frustrated because I spent almost two hours trying to find the original Korean text for this poem through various strategies of googlings, so as to be able to include it and try to read it, but I utterly failed. If any of my Korean-speaking friends who sometimes look at my blog would happen to recognize this poem and point me to the original text, I'd be grateful and interested. I will update this blog post if I run across the Korean text later.
[Update: my friend Christine almost immediately recognized this poem and gave me a link to the original. She said they read it in middle school.
사노라면 사람은 죽는 것을
하루라도 몇 번(番)씩 내 생각은
내가 무엇하려고 살려는지?
모르고 살았노라, 그럴 말로
그러나 흐르는 저 냇물이
흘러가서 바다로 든댈진댄.
일로조차 그러면, 이 내 몸은
애쓴다고는 말부터 잊으리라.
사노라면 사람은 죽는 것을
그러나, 다시 내 몸,
봄빛의 불붙는 사태흙에
집 짓는 저 개아미
나도 살려 하노라, 그와 같이
사는 날 그날까지
살음에 즐거워서,
사는 것이 사람의 본뜻이면
오오 그러면 내 몸에는
다시는 애쓸 일도 더 없어라
사노라면 사람은 죽는 것을.
– 김소월