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I have seen many eyes -- translation |
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By mia_ms_kim
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21 March 2008 |
TRANSLATED from Korean
This is another of Shiva Ryu's poems, for people who are interested. It is a little different than the poems I've translated before. I had to switch the order of a couple of lines to fit in with English grammar.
I hope some people find it interesting.
I have seen many eyes
Eyes filled with tears
Eyes shedding teardrops like flowers
Eyes sighing with unfulfilled cravings
Eyes that were smiling
I have seen many eyes
Eyes of the one who despaired
Eyes of a little child
Eyes that transcended the world
And I have seen the eyes of the dead filled with earth
I have also seen a blind man’s motionless eyes
And the beast’s eyes and the insect’s eyes
And some eyes that were looking into my own eyes
I have seen the eyes of a mad person, too
I could not even tell where he was looking
Eyes that had something to love
And eyes desperately searching for love
Some eyes had already lived their lives
And some eyes hadn’t
Everything,
I’ve seen everything
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Written by Fledermaus (3487 comments posted) 21st March 2008 | | A beautiful way to express many thing. It's a bit like when one walks past an apartment block in evening and wonders what goes on behind all these windows. So many lives and stories, too many to even imagine and each of them interesting enough to write a book about. |
Written by mia_ms_kim (1057 comments posted) 21st March 2008 | Thank you, Fledermaus, for your insightful comments. You are so right. I found this poem really interesting. (I think I got the translation right mostly.) I was thinking of all those eyeballs that perceived life differently and revealed different lives. Ryu was vagrant with no fixed address for 10 years (from what I've read, commentators call that period 'his silent years'). He wandered around mostly in India, and just observed life and wrote for no one but himself. I have a feeling this poem comes from that period of time in his life.
Mia |
Written by maipenrai (784 comments posted) 22nd March 2008 | excellent, excellent, excellent.
Bernie | thank you, Bernie....
Written by mia_ms_kim (1057 comments posted) 22nd March 2008 | thank you, thank you, thank you.
Mia  | Great Great Great
Written by Katanga (1508 comments posted) 18th April 2008 | great, great, great.
I've never seen a poem with one word repeated so many times, and yet it more than 'gets away with it'!
Being a dark sort of chap, I love the line
'And I have seen the eyes of the dead filled with earth'
and how it breaks the rythm of the previous eight lines.
It kind of reminds me of T.S. Eliott's line in 'Prufrock'
'And I have seen the mermaids singing each to each'.
Anyway - wonderful. Thank you Mia! | John, thank you
Written by mia_ms_kim (1057 comments posted) 18th April 2008 | for your comments.
I always admit to being a poetry ignoramus. I often don't know why I like a certain poem, I just know I do. This is one of Ryu's poems I like. I know what you mean about the eyes of the dead. That struck me, too - made me pause, though I'm a springy sort of person... (But I wondered how Ryu could claim he'd seen everything. It's a high claim - unless he meant it some other way.)
Mia  |
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