A HALF MOON

A HALF MOON

Since when are you hanging there, half moon,

drifting palely in the sky?

The wind rises, the nightfall brings a chill,

and the edge of the white-water glitters in the glow of the evening.

Above the dark, grassless plain,

the cold fog rises.
The winter is far advanced,
and sorrow weighs me down.

Also in the heart of the beloved who leaves,
love and youth turned to age disappears.
At the dark branches of the wild bramble,
withered petals glimmer in the faint evening light.

KIM SO-WÔL, Korea (1902 – 1934)

Translation: Jaihiun J. Kim – Germain Droogenbroodt – Stanley Barkan