Two (Mis)translations
way
again alone last night,
in the wanderer’s house
cawcawing a crow stood on the night, weeping.
today
again how many whole steps
will lead me to where.
up to the mountain
to the field
no place bids me come, so i cannot go.
do not speak of my home,
a remote mountain in an untroubled land,
it too is a place reached by car and boat.
look at me, skyborn
wild geese,
is there a road paved in the hollow that you travel so sure?
look at me, skyborn
wild geese,
i stop at the heart of a perfect word.
even if the road
is splintering split with roads
no way is utterly mine.
by Kim Sowol (1902-1934), trans. Ae Hee Lee