Jeong Ho-seung's poem (25)
Prejudice Regarding the Left
Translated by Brother Anthony and Susan Hwang
A wild duck that flies across the winter sky
with one wing tilted slightly to the left is more beautiful.
The back of a person walking
with one shoulder tilting slightly to the left is more beautiful.
From the days when my body had a youthful heart
I always only took the left-hand path
and now, even that body with a lonely heart has tilted more to the left.
Be it a straight highway or a dark alley,
all the horizons I’ve gazed at have tilted more to the left.
To say something is tilting is to say it is growing beautifully.
To say something is tilting is to say you love it.
Still now, were I to gaze at someone from far away
I would always gaze from the left.
The side view of someone seen from the left is the most beautiful of all.
.jpg?w=728)
A riddling poem that perhaps challenges the official prejudice against the political left-wing so widespread in South Korea, although it is often on the left that compassionate concern for human pain is found.