On a Night Train
The night is black,
The train speeds on its track,
Now it tunnels cliffs,
Now it crosses water,
Now above the vale it lifts,
Now along the river,
Again within the city,
Then in the village center.
Again amidst the blackest black
Where only night is sitting,
The train speeds on its track,
Chug-chug, chug-chug,
Jug-jug, jug-jug.
To its sound my thoughts are fitting,
Chug-chug, chug-chug,
Jug-jug, jug-jug.
Where will you carry me, I wonder?
Please set me down in Paradise.
To Eden’s garden take me back.
But whatever place it be,
upon whatever track,
I do not care, for you bear
My very dearest here with me.
From Translations of Oriental Poetry (New York: Prentice Hall, 1929) by Younghill Kang. This poem is in the public domain.
Younghill Kang
Younghill Kang (Kang Yong-hŭl, 강용흘, 姜鏞訖) was a Korean American poet, scholar, and novelist born in Hamgyong Province, Korea, near the end of the Joseon Dynasty. The official year of his birth is 1903, but most scholars concede that he was actually born in 1898. Born into a yangban, or aristocratic family, Kang immigrated to the United States in 1921 right before the passage of the Immigrant Act of 1924 (also known as the Johnson-Reed Act).