maninbo

from "ten thousand lives" by ko un, an ongoing poem series by the korean author that started while he was in jail and is his attempt to describe everyone he has ever met.

Su-dong and the Swallows

Su-dong’s family is only his parents.

When they’re out at work

and he is playing, alone,

looking after the house, he gets bored.

Home alone, his only sport is idly pulling weeds,

until every year in early spring the swallows arrive.

Filling up the empty house, the swallows become his family.

As droppings fall on Su-dong’s head,

the swallows fill up the empty house.

The brood hatches, then in the twinkling of an eye,

the chicks grow up

and go their separate ways,

at which he finds himself bored again.

The yard is suddenly that much bigger.

Late in autumn the swallows,

setting off to fly fast over hills and seas,

over seas and oceans,

the swallows leaving for lands beyond the river,

for distant south seas,

gather on the neighborhood’s empty washing lines

and sit in rows, preening their breasts with their beaks

before setting off.

Looking up at them all, Su-dong feels utterly lonely.

Feeling lonely

means growing up.

‘You’re leaving now, you’ll be back next year.

Good-bye for now.’

He gives each of the swallows a name:

Chick-sun,

Chick-ku,

Cheep-sun,

Cheep-bo.