While Playing the Harp

translated from the Korean by Younghill Kang

Wishing to forget my sad thoughts,
I played the harp under the moon.
Before the dancing melody died,
The wet tears had covered my face.
And the night became a sea,
And the strings of the harp were a rainbow,
And when the sound of the harp became high, thin, very thin, and high,
You became the plectron leaping, over the strings of the harp.
As the last sound followed the wind through the shadowy trees,
You looked at me with strength gone, and faded,
                                                     closing your blurred eyes,
Ah! ah! you followed the dying sound of the harp, and faded,
                                                     closing your blurred eyes.

 


 

거문고 탈 때

 

달 아래에서 거문고를 타기는 근심을 잊을까 함이러니 
첫 곡조가 끝나기 전에 눈물이 앞을 가려서

밤은 바다가 되고 거문고줄은 무지개가 됩니다. 
거문고 소리가 높았다가 가늘고 느티나무 그늘로 사라질 때에

당신은 나를 힘없이 보면서 아득한 눈을 감았습니다. 
아아 당신은 사라지는 거문고 소리를 따라서 아득한 눈을 감습니다

From The Silence of the Beloved (Hoedong Seogwan Publishers, 1926) by Han Yong-un. Translated from the Korean by Younghill Kang. This poem is in the public domain.