My spring is like the inside of a huge jar
I'm sitting on the rounded bottom of the jar wearing flower shoes
I'm a girl crying because I hate boiled barley
I should go up, I should go up
But my body is not a centipede's
My mother went to market and my father went to play baduk*
My older half-sister called me into the kitchen and bloodied my nose
My younger sister went into a jar** with the sound of a gong
I should go over, I should go over
But a ladder is leaning against the outside of the jar
My feet are getting bigger and bigger
The petals fall one at a time from my flower shoes
I should fly away, I should fly away
But my wings are farther away than the rainy season
When the sunbeams shine inside like pillars
I faint and become spring which is like a jar
That butterfly flying away wearing small, torn flower shoes
*Translated by Rodney E. Tyson
Euntaek Hong
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*baduk: a popular board game sometimes called Korean checkers.
**went into a jar: In the past, it was a custom in the Korean countryside to bury a dead child inside a large earthenware jar, or pot, with a lid.
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= KOREAN =
봄
내 봄은 커다란 항아리 속 같아
둥근 바닥에 꽃신을 놓고 앉아 있네요
보리밥이 싫어서 우는 계집애
올라가야 하는데 올라가야 하는데
내 몸은 지네가 아니네요
어머니는 시장 가고 아버지는 기원 가고
이복언니는 부엌으로 불러 코피 터트리고
보리동생은 징소리 끌고 항아리 속으로 갔네요
넘어가야 하는데 넘어가야 하는데
사다리는 항아리 밖에 기대 있네요
발은 점 점 커지고
꽃신에선 하나 둘 꽃잎이 지네요
날아가야 하는데 날아가야 하는데
날개는 장마보다 멀리 있네요
햇살이 기둥처럼 들이치는 한 때
혼절하여 항아리 같은 봄이 되었네요
작은 꽃신 찢어서 신고 날아가는 저 나비
Spring 
