Snow by Yun Dong-ju

Translated by Chae-Pyong Song and Anne Rashid

Photography by Jeong Bong-chae

Snow by Yun Dong-ju (1917-1945)

Last night
snow fell abundantly:

on the rooftops,
on the paths, on the farms.
Perhaps it is a blanket
that keeps us from the cold.

That’s why
it falls only in the chill of the winter.

눈/윤동주

지난 밤에
눈이 소오복이 왔네

지붕이랑
길이랑 밭이랑
추워한다고
덮어 주는 이불인가 봐

그러기에
추운 겨울에만 나리지

Yun Dong-ju (1917 – 1945) was born in Longjing, Jiandao, in present-day northeastern China. He was known for lyric poetry as well as resistance poetry against Japanese colonialism.

Spring by Yun Dong-ju

Translated by Chae-Pyong Song and Anne Rashid

Spring by Yun Dong-ju

Spring runs within blood vessels like a stream,
and on the bank near a stream
forsythias, azaleas, and yellow cabbage flowers

I, who have endured winter,
sprout like grass

Joyful robin,
fly up from any furrow

The blue sky
glistens high above

봄/윤동주

봄이 혈관 속에 시내처럼 흘러
돌 , 돌, 시내 가차운 언덕에
개나리, 진달래, 노오란 배추꽃

삼동(三冬)을 참어온 나는
풀포기처럼 피어난다.

즐거운 종달새야
어느 이랑에서나 즐거웁게 솟쳐라.

푸르른 하늘은
아른아른 높기도 한데

(Melanie Steyn read the earlier version of this translation.)

Yun Dong-ju (1917 – 1945) was born in Longjing, Jiandao, in present-day northeastern China. He was known for lyric poetry as well as resistance poetry against Japanese colonialism.

Prologue by Yun Dong-ju

Translated by Chae-Pyong Song and Darcy Brandel

Photography by Choi Il-ryoung

Prologue by Yun Dong-ju

Until the day I die
I long to have no speck of shame
when I gaze up toward heaven,
so I have tormented myself,
even when the wind stirs the leaves.
With a heart that sings the stars,
I will love all dying things.
And I will walk the way
that has been given to me.

Tonight, again, the wind brushes the stars.

서시(序詩)/ 윤동주

죽는 날까지 하늘을 우러러
한 점 부끄럼이 없기를,
잎새에 이는 바람에도
나는 괴로워했다.
별을 노래하는 마음으로
모든 죽어 가는 것을 사랑해야지.
그리고 나한테 주어진 길을
걸어가야겠다.

오늘 밤에도 별이 바람에 스치운다.

“하늘과 바람과 별과 시” (정음사, 1948)

Yun Dong-ju (1917 – 1945) was born in Longjing, Jiandao, in present-day northeastern China. He was known for lyric poetry as well as resistance poetry against Japanese colonialism.