Poems of Prof. Lee, Hee Kuk (South Korea)

Lee, Hee Kuk is a Korean poet. Born in Seoul city of South Korea. He is Pharmacist and Adjunct Professor of College of Pharmacy, The Catholic University of Korea. He is a member of Executive of PEN Korean Center of PEN International. He published 5 poetry books. He won 4 Literature awards.

 


Bridge
Lee, Hee Kuk


A bridge to the island is built,

people crossed the sea on foot

When I was young, there was a teacher like grand bridge,

he was my bridge

 

Parents used return to home late at night,

I stayed in the classroom and read until dark

 

The day it snowed outside the window,

warm hands wrapped around my shoulders

Korean language teacher,

he took my hand and led me to the office and home

 

A flower that bloomed in a remote corner, caressing it

The love that made me ride on his shoulders,

It was a bridge Which connects winter to spring

 

Outside the window, it snows like that day

Cars which biting their tails light up the darkness pass Yeongjong Bridge

 

The road which is over the sea is bright

 





When Confronted with a Fork in the Road
  Lee, Hee Kuk

As hatred and resentment grow longer,
The mire deepens further.
Darkness swallows both body and mind,
And I see myself plummeting into the abyss.

The direction led by emptiness and forgiveness is
A path towards the light.
Though it's painful and long,
The stairs of peace become brighter as one goes.

Inside me, hesitating at every turn despite knowing,
Live two hearts, good and evil.

To some, unnecessarily kind,
To others,
Excessively harsh.
The contradictions of those days, too late to regret.

Even if darkness might win at times,
I cannot surrender my soul and body
To the darkness.

Rather than the pitch-black night, I head towards the bright sun.


Dawn Sea
Lee, Hee Kuk

Looking at the night sea from a cruise ship,
A long-ago emotion sparkles on the black waves.

The father of someone, whose hand was amputated in a factory,
Someone's mother, lying paralyzed.
A civil servant, who wrote his apology and explanation in writing while helping people beyond desk-bound duties,
The wind carried the story of two men and three women, barefoot in the middle of winter.

Carrying layers of scratches from all kinds of storms,
Floating, torn by the rolling waves,
A small boat.
I asked someone's 16-year-old eldest son to buy him a life jacket.
"What is the most difficult?"

"There's nothing difficult,"
His father was injured at work, and his mother collapsed while working day and night.
He said, "I'm so glad it's my turn to work!"
The whip of the wind struck the back of my clumsy sympathy.
On a shabby boat, with no coordinates, on a pitch-black sea,
A boy rowing vigorously, with sparkling eyes.

The sea, where the waves rustled and crumpled,
I saw a faint light.
Dawn was breaking brightly in the distance.


Moon
Lee, Hee Kuk

Light quietly knocks on the window
The moonlight,
Whose warm hand sent it?

Hanging in the air all night
A lamp brightening the dark road
Whose warm heart does it belong to?

Tossing and turning, trying to soothe sleep
That warm touch,
Who sent this love?

With a promise to always stay there
Even those who are far away,
Together we look up to you.

Pushing away the darkness,
There you are, smiling brightly
The world blooms like a flower.

Here or there, all of us,
We live and die in your embrace.