Poems of Lee Min Sook (South Korea)

Poetess Ms. Lee Min Sook (South Korea)
Poet Lee Min Sook is a pianist, poet, essayist, and lyricist. She currently serves as Chairperson of the Dante Literary Association and Publisher of Oseon Literary Publishing. She is also a board member of the Korean Writers’ Association and the Korean Modern Poets Association. In addition, she serves as Chief Judge of the Seoul Citizens’ Literary Award and as an editorial writer for Media Korea. She has received numerous literary honors, including the Grand Prize at the 9th Maeheon Yun Bong-gil Literary Awards. Poet Lee Min Sook has published six poetry collections, including Walking on the Staff, and has contributed her works to more than thirty literary magazines, journals, and writers’ anthologies.
 

Walking the Path of Life Together
 
 
Life is like crossing a swaying bridge of clouds
over a deep valley,
sharing each other’s warmth
as we endure fearful winds and move beyond them.
 
A single red rose
cannot contain all the fragrance of spring,
and a lone ship sailing across the vast sea
cannot overcome every wave in the world.
 
Therefore, our lives
are a journey of walking hand in hand beneath the stars,
countless eyes reflecting one another,
gently shining together even in the darkness.
 
 
 
What We Are to Become
 
Had the wind not blown,
flowers could never bloom.
 
Had the rain not fallen,
we could never behold a rainbow.
 
Had tears of wax
not streamed down the candle,
it could never give its radiant light.
 
The bee burns out its life to gather honey,
and the flower that beckons butterflies
leaves behind ripened seeds where its blossoms have fallen.
 
So too must we, like fragrant flowers,
leave behind the fruit of our lives.
 
 
Chopin and Coffee
 
A melody flows—
softly,
gently beyond the window frame.
 
It is the comforting melody
I wandered in search of
late into the night,
seeking the notes of Chopin's Waltz No. 10.
 
Before I know it, the melody climbs the wall,
drifts beyond it,
and settles into my cup of coffee.
 
As Chopin's lovely melody
sweetly slips down my throat,
I close my eyes.