Poems of Dr. Lee Hye Seon (South Korea)

Poetess Dr. Lee Hye Seon

Poetess Dr. Lee Hye-Seon was born in 1950 and is a poet, literary critic, Doctor of Literature, and professor of poetry writing. She made her literary debut in 1981 through recommendations in the literary magazine Simunhak. She has published several poetry collections, including Extinguishing with Fire, Burning in Water, Half of the Spilled Liquor, Every day is a good day, Birdsong Delivery, If You Happen to Meet the Wind, The One Who Knows Me Better Than Myself, and A Divine Being (One God). Additionally, she has authored books such as An Evening with Lee Hye-Seon’s Poetry, Lee Hye-Seon’s Stroll Through Famous Poems, Literature and the Transfiguration of Dreams, and My Father’s Educational Methods. She also compiled Corona? Korea! In 2016, her works were selected as excellent books in the Sejong Book Literary Sharing Program.
She has received numerous literary awards, including the Yoon Dong-Ju Literary Award, Korean Contemporary Poet Award, Korean Arts and Culture Grand Prize, Critics’ Association Criticism Award, Dongguk Literary Award, Pyoam Ikjae Literary Award, Korean Poetry and Literature Award, and Seonsa Literary Award.
She has taught at various universities, including as a visiting professor at Dongguk University and Sejong University. She has also served as Vice Chairman of the Korean Writers’ Association, a member of the Literature Promotion Policy Committee at the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, Chairperson of the Korean Women Writers’ Association, and President of organizations such as the Dongguk Literary Society, Korean Poetry and Literature Writers’ Association, Gangdong Literary Association and Distinguished Scholar with IAE. Her current Positions are Advisor to the Korean Writers’ Association (KWA), Advisor to PEN International Korea Center, Honorary Chairperson of the Korean Women Writers’ Association and 4th President of the Korean Association of World Literature.
Her poetry has been translated and introduced in various countries, including Italy, Germany, Egypt, Greece, Belgium, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Kosovo, Albania, Vietnam, Mexico, South America, Russia, Kyrgyzstan, and Kazakhstan.
 
 

Half the Liquor Has Been Spilled
 
At a drinking gathering at that street-side drinking tent in Insadong,
the saying “Half the liquor has been spilled” became the evening's theme.
 
While I read books or watched TV dramas, tears often gathering in my eyes,
my husband would come over, tilt my chin upward, and tease,
“There goes our baby crying again.”
Yet these days, whenever he hears even the saddest tale, his eyes grow moist.
Today as well, he arrived in haste, saying he had been moved to tears by a radio program on his way home from work.
 
At the evening table, after the grown children have left the nest,
a husband and wife with silvering hair sit across from each other,
exchanging glances of gentle compassion.
 
Is it because half the liquor has already been spilled?
Or is it the hope in our eyes that half the bottle still remains to be shared?
Inside the bottle of life, whose depths no one can truly know...
 
 
 

 
The Pure World of Children Must Prevail
— A Letter from Ukraine
 
I fell asleep beneath a wall, only to jolt awake at the scream of the siren,
gathering the children and searching for another wall—
a wall far from shattered glass,
a wall that might shield life from the drones' bombardment.
 
We sit upon cushions spread where mattresses once belonged.
Beyond the wall, cries tear through the ears.
I draw my knees against my chest, while outside the darkness
explodes into shards of collapsing, blood-edged ruin.
 
I want to remain in bed, yet instinct drives me
to carry the children beneath another wall.
My daughter, born into war, my daughter, her skin as delicate as a fish's—
I must protect the fluttering gills,
the fragile pulse of these children.
 
Outside, it is twenty below zero, and milky breath escapes from our mouths.
The teeth of war have devoured power stations and the nation's lifelines.
Heat has vanished from thousands of apartments; people cannot cook, and they go hungry.
The handmaidens of madness rain down bombs, unable to bear that free people should simply live and laugh in freedom.
 
Where no walls remain standing, people have thrown themselves forward, raising walls of life with their own bodies.
With dying flesh and weary souls, beneath this living wall our children will endure—
they will endure.
 
The prayers of people across the world are racing toward us,
rolling on warm wheels.
At last, the breathing of children travels outward, carried on the wheels of peace.
 
Inspired by the writings of Volodymyr Yermolenko (Ukraine).
 

 
 
Dadok Dadok(A Gentle Pat)

 
A tall dahlia by the garden yard sways in the force of a typhoon.
 
The slender vine of a morning glory climbs upward, gently wrapping it in an embrace.
 
And so, today again, the Earth does not collapse because of you.
 
Turning and revolving, it walks on upright and steadfast.