“And the Birds, They Fly” by Na Hee-Deok

Na Hee-Deok
Na Hee-Deok

Birds flew by with hearts between their beaks.
Outside the window, a quiet calm.
Inside, I’m sitting on a washer.
A plate seated in front of me
holding an apple, peeled and bitten,
which moments ago throbbed red.
Could the apple have been the plate’s heart?
The seeds, the apple’s heart?
Have you ever heard the pumping
of things with circumferences
as they continue to fill and empty
thousands of times a day without hearts?
Even when the apple is lost,
in the spreading circumference of silent light,
I’ll still be seated on the washer
like something the plate has yet to break.
Together, the washer and plate grow round and silent.
Outside the window, a quiet calm.
Inside, an empty plate opens its mouth wide like parentheses.
And the birds, they continue to fly,
I steal other hearts,
and each day things with circumferences still
meet and split apart.



새가 심장을 물고 날아갔어
창밖은 고요해
그래도 나는 식탁에 앉아 있어
접시를 앞에 두고
거기 놓인 사과를 베어 물었지
사과는 조금 전까지 붉게 두근거렸어
사과는 접시의 심장이었을까
사과 씨는 사과의 심장이었을까
둘레를 가진 것들은
하루에도 몇 번씩 담겼다 비워지지
심장을 잃어버린 것들의 박동을
너는 들어본 적 있니?
둘레로 퍼지는 침묵의 빛,
사과를 잃어버리고도
접시가 아직 깨지지 않은 것처럼
나는 식탁에 앉아 있어
식탁과 접시는 말없이 둥글고
창밖은 고요해
괄호처럼 입을 벌리는 빈 접시,
새는 날아가고
나는 다른 심장들을 훔치고
둘레를 가진 것들은
하루에도 몇 번씩 그렇게 만났다 헤어지지


And the Birds, They Fly” (새는 날아가고) appeared in Daum – 70 Representative Korean Poets.

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