686 | Day and Night | CHO BYUNG-HWA, Korea

                                    Modigliani, Italy

Day and Night

Like the wind passing through the leaves,
so you pass through my mind.

Like a bird sleeping in a tree,
so you sleep in my mind.

***
Woman

An erupting volcano
A sealed universe
A continuously flowing stream

An unforgiving heaven
A treacherous marsh
A sky thrown open

The term of all longing
The sign for all craving
Palace of secrets

Erupting eternity

Fertile desire
Mystery never solved.

Cho Byung-hwa, Korea (1921–2003)

From “Selected Poems”

Translation by Kevin O’Rourke – Germain Droogenbroodt – Stanley Barkan