As soon as the water runs out, the corpses
That were crouching under the water awaken
Hills that were fields
Slopes that were rice paddies, stream banks that were paths
Gudeuljang* that people carried on their backs
Earthenware jars that couldn't leave as their sides were broken
Forgotten hoes left hanging from tree branches
How can I leave? What if you dont go?
Give me more! Enough, you! Sounds of quarreling
Moo, bow-wow, cock-a-doodle-do, oink-oink
Sounds of power cultivators leaving
Slanting telephone poles like old people going to borrow water pumps
With a pallid, unseemly appearance, they open their graves and come out
Please give me water!
Please give me water!
*Translated by Rodney E. Tyson
Euntaek Hong
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*Gudeuljang: pieces of flat stone placed over the underfloor heating system in Korean buildings.
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= KOREAN =
가뭄
물이 빠지자 물밑에
웅크렸던 시체들이 깨어났다
밭이었던 언덕
논이었던 구릉, 길이었던 냇둑
사람이 지고있던 구들장들이
옆구리가 터져서 떠나지 못한 오지항아리
나뭇가지에 걸어둔 채 잊어버린 호미날이
어떻게 떠나요? 안 가면 어쩔거여?
더 내놔요! 됐네 이 사람! 싸우는 소리들이
움메 멍멍 꼬끼요 꿀꿀
경운기 떠나는 소리들이
양수기 빌리러 가는 노인처럼 기우뚱한 전봇대들이
A Drought 
