“Life of My Own” by Ha Jae-Yeon

Ha Jae-Yeon
Ha Jae-Yeon (image source)

My eyes are my own.
Each flutter of my lashes, my freedom.
Turning my head to look upon, my freedom.
My hands, my own.
Whether smoking a cigarette
or extinguishing one, that’s my freedom.
Overflowing and running over to you.
If you can’t understand my words,
that’s not my intention,
or is it?
When someday you love someone else
and a fire is growing in the street,
I will go out to greet it.
When I happen to meet you and
the streetlight flickers,
I’ll put faith in the fire’s light I scatter to the streets
and my freedom will remain only my own.



내 눈동자는 나의 것
눈썹을 깜박이는 것도 나의 의지입니다
고개를 돌려 당신을 바라보는 것도 나의 의지
내 손은 나의 것
담배를 피우거나
비벼 끄는 것은 나의 의지입니다
연기가 피어올라 공중으로 사라져가듯,
나의 말은 나에게서 나와
당신에게로 흘러들어갑니다
당신이 나의 말을 이해할 수 없다면
그것은 내 뜻이 아닙니다
그렇지 않은가요?
어느 날 당신은 누군가를 사랑하게 되고
거리에 불이 켜지면
나는 거리로 나갑니다
어느 날 가로등들이 꺼졌다 켜졌다 하듯이
당신은 누군가를 만나게 되고
나는 쏟아지는 불빛을 거리에서 맞습니다
나의 의지는 나만의 것이지만.


Ha Jae-Yeon (1957-) was born in Seoul and graduated from Korean university with a BA in Korean literature. She went on to receive her MA and PhD before serving as a visiting professor at George Mason University. Her collections of poetry include Radio Days (라디오 데이즈), published in 2006, and Like all the Beaches in the World  (세계의 모든 해변처럼), published in 2012.

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