Annyeong~ Hi~ /insert various other greetings

Since today I'm competing in Regionals for our Speech team,
I'd like to share the poem I'm doing.
It's by a North Korean poet, Li Chong-Dok, who writes 
of losing his mother thanks to the separation of the entire Korean nation.
Even though I'm American (native american technically bleh),
I still love the asian culture, Korea in particular tho--
and I know a lot of the history. And it's heart-wrenching to the point I want to cry
thinking of the poem and its point. 
So, here it is, with my Intro and the English translation done
by the ever-so-amazing Song Chae Pyong (usually called Jae Pyong Song / Jae Song)
& the lovely Anne Rashid. 
Also, side note since this is important for me to look back on:
I know a lot of Korean and speak pretty well, 
but this is the North Korean dialect and it's different...
and it honestly takes me a bit more to study because I want to say one thing,
and it's... that dialect. otl.

Enjoy & have a lovely weekend, to whomever is reading this~! <3
 

 

North Korea, as a whole and a part of a separated race, is corrupt and embraced in a blanket of sorrow and ill-illusions. A poet, Li Chong-Dok, writes of losing his mother, in this country where unification is needed, but not given. A mother and son, split forever by a wall of separation of nations. Being said in Korean with translations published by Song Chae-Pyong and Anne Rashid – If I Truly Meet Mother Unexpectedly is a small journey through the beauty of Korean poetry.

If I Truly Meet Mother Unexpectedly

참으로
그날이 와서 통일이 와서
문득
어머니를 만날 수 있다면

Truly
When the day comes, the unification comes,
If I meet Mother
Unexpectedly

아아, 너무더 억이 막혀
수수십년 새겨온 그 말들을 다 잊고
가슴 터지고 심장이 터지는 소리
다만엄마 하고 울릴게다

Ah, ah, so choked up,
I would forget all the words that I etched for many decades,
The bursting sound—of the heart and the soul—
Resonates only with “Omma” [Mother]

장에 갔던 어머니 늦어만 와도
엎어질 듯 달려가 안기던 목소리
The voice to which I ran, as if falling on my face, to be embraced
Even when she came back late from the market;

하루만 떨어졌다 마나도
마녕 응석을 부리던 목소리
The voice to which I played the baby
When we met again even after one day’s separation.

세밤 자고 오마고
외가에 간 어머니건만
까맣게 기다리던 그 세밤이
펀번 만전 지나도록
 못오신 어머니

The mother who left me, saying
She would be back after three nights’ stay at grandma’s,
The three nights—during which I waited so long—passed by
Thousand and ten thousand times, and I am waiting still…

칠순도 더 넘은 백발이런만
상기도 내 머깃속엠
아주까라기름이 반드럽던
가리마 잔듯한 그 까만 머리쁜

She must be over seventy, all gray haired,
Yet in my memories
She has all black hair, neatly parted,
Gleaming with castor oil

어머니 어머니
어머니를 만나기전엔 더 먹멀을 수 없는 이 나이옵고
이 아들을 보기전엔
차마 눈을 감을수 없는어머니려니

Mother, Mother,
I cannot age another day without meeting my Mother.
You, Mother, cannot close your eyesTill you see this son.

사랑은 쇠를 녹인다 하였거늘
이 아들과 어머니 사랑만이 아닌
온겨레의 사랑이 합티면
분렬의 콩크리트장벽을 어찌 못허물랴

Love melts iron, they say.
Not just love between this son and Mother but,
If all the nation’s love unites,
Can it topple this concrete dividing wall?