Jeong Ho-seung's poem (20)
Enough Unhappiness
Translated by Brother Anthony and Susan Hwang
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I am already unhappy enough.
Because at least my unhappiness is enough,
even as bitter cold winter draws near
I have lost many things but did not lose everything.
Death cannot be seen when I want to see it.
Though it cannot be seen, the longer I live the more it lives with me.
Unable to pour clean water into dirty water,
I have spent my life pouring dirty water into clean water.
Even so, my tears have become hot wheels
rolling about the cold winter streets.
Now, it is time that my unhappiness,
once comforted by others’ unhappiness,
should become a comfort for others’ unhappiness.
Late in the evening, I alight at the last stop,
carrying a black bag full of time,
but there is no one to whom I can make a call.
The poet feels himself growing old, coming closer to death. He confesses his failure to do something positive in his life, admits that he has contributed to the world’s pollution, physical or moral. There remains the universal human experience of unhappiness, which he hopes can become a source of comfort to others, although there may not be anyone left to comfort.