FROM NORTH by Baek Seok trans. Jack Jung (from KOREAN)
Once upon a time I left behind
The tribes of Buyeo and Suksin and Balhae and Yeojin and Yo and Geum
And Heungahnryeong and Eumsan and Amoowooreu and Soonggari
I betrayed the tiger the deer and the raccoon
And lied to the trout the catfish and the frog I left them behind
At the time
remember how the birch and the larch grieved
I have not forgotten the reed and the beewort pleading with me to stay
And how the Orochon tribe hunted a hog and held for me a departing feast
And how the Solon tribe followed me for ten miles and wept I have not forgotten
At the time
No sorrow or grief weighed me down I could beat them
I came lazily to the distant south
And under the warm sun I dressed in white and ate smooth food
And drank sweet spring and took midday naps
At nights I woke surprised by the distant howling of dogs
During days I bowed down to every passing person
But I did not know my shame
During that time the stone was broken and gold and silver were buried beneath earth
The crow too gave birth to a long line of lineage
And after all this when a new day rose once upon a time
I was chased down by sorrow and grief that I truly could not beat
And I returned to the old sky the land – back to my placenta
But now the sun is old the moon is pale the wind is insane a wedge cloud
Alone soullessly floats around
O my ancestors my brothers my family my sweet neighbors my longing
My love my worship my pride my strength are no more
They have passed together with the winds and the waters and the years they are gone
TRANSLATOR BIO:
Jack Jung is a graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, where he was a Truman Capote Fellow. He is a co-translator of Yi Sang: Selected Works (Wave Books 2020), the winner of 2021 MLA Aldo and Jeanne Scaglione Prize for a Translation of Literary Work. He currently teaches at Davidson College.
