Poems of Dr. Um, Chang-Sup (South Korea)

Poet Dr. Um, Chang-Sup was born in Gangneung, Gangwon Province, South Korea. He made his literary debut through the literary magazine Hwahong Sidan (華虹詩壇), founded and published in 1965, and later through the literary journal Poetry Literature (Simunhak).
He graduated from the Department of Korean Language and Literature at the Graduate School of Sungkyunkwan University, where he earned a Ph.D. in Literature. He served as a professor at Kwandong University, where he also served as Dean of the Graduate School and Acting President.
He has served as President of the Korean Society of Poetry and Literature, President of the Kim Dong-myeong Society, and Chairman of the Association for the Promotion of the Legacy of National Poet Shim Yeon-su.
He currently serves as Professor Emeritus at Catholic Kwandong University. He is also a member of the Korean National Committee of PEN International, the Korean Society of Contemporary Literary Criticism, and the Korean Christian Writers Association, as well as the Asia-Pacific Writers Association.
He serves as an advisor to Culture & People, the editorial director of the monthly magazine Modern Poem, and Chairman of the Board of K-Jeongnanum.

 
 
THE LESSON OF LIFE
 Um, Chang-Sup 

At dawn upon the Serengeti plains of Africa,
a Thomson’s gazelle opens its eyes from sleep.
Sensing that it will be devoured
if it cannot run faster than the lion of the jungle,
it instinctively races forward, cutting through the headwind.
 
In the blue light of dawn,
the king of beasts awakens in the wilderness.
Knowing that it will die of hunger if it cannot outrun the gazelle,
the lion, with all its strength,
awakens its wild instinct
upon the sunlit plains to overtake its prey.
 
You, too, whether you are gazelle or lion,
in the place where life has set you, before the morning sun appears,
must commit yourself to one purpose and run with all your strength.
Even against the fiercest headwind, you must press forward without breaking stride.
This is the burden of life and the destiny that comes with it.
 
 

 
 
Landscape
Um, Chang-Sup 

The small shadows of a winter mountain
beneath the blue blade of a merciless frost—
everything stands motionless,
like a specimen preserved in a frame.
 
Even the slow work of weathering has come to a halt,
and at the far edge of darkness silence reigns.
Moonlight on the water casts itself upon
the snow-white magnolia—
Ah, I am dizzy.
 
 
      
 
Windflowers and Moonlight
Um, Chang-Sup 
 
The white magnolia petals,
drunk on the blue moonlight,
shyly flutter and sway in a dizzy spell.
That thousand-year-old wind, whose form no one can see,
gently stirs the reed beds
 
how sweet the flowing tresses of that ancient wind.
Carried on a wind that leaves no trace,
ah—a heavenly shower of flowers from Tushita,
and your shy smile in the darkness is reflected as the flower of being.
 
Amid the great river's mighty lament,
even the solitude of the mountain temple is drenched in blue moonlight,
while the heart, soaked in its radiance, is moved to tears
beyond all understanding.