A Song
(A poem composed in 28 A.D. Korea)
When my dead mother comes to me
and asks me to lend her my shoes
I take off my shoes.
When my dead mother comes to me
and asks me to hold her up, for she has no feet
I take off my feet.
When my dead mother comes to me
and asks me to lend her, lend her
I even rip out my heart.
In the sky, mountains rise, trails rise.
At a place where there is no one
two round moons ascend.
(Translated from Me Korean by Don Mee Choi)
by Kim Hye-Sun
from Arts & Letters, Fall 2000