[Afternoon Poem] Ethiopian Greeting / Isumyeong

The shuttlecock got stuck in a tree.

We did not know what to do.

We put down the badminton rackets and looked up at the tree.

It was a shuttlecock from Ethiopia, but now it was stuck in the tree with no way to move.

I don't know why we played badminton every day.

Why we always did it before dinner,

running around exchanging pointless stories,

the stories never ended,

and we felt like we were running endlessly.

It felt like we were constantly running away in the same spot.

We didn't even notice when the shuttlecock flew up to the sky,

or when it flew all the way to Ethiopia and came back,

we didn't know what to do even when it couldn't fly straight and got stuck in the tree.

"Did you call the tree here?" "Not me," we argued,

and suddenly started calling out all the badminton rackets we had dealt with so far.

Because we were learning badminton, we didn't realize even as old age came.

While others learned quickly, we fumbled and dragged it out,

only to have our badminton rackets taken away by others.

Kind people played badminton,

great people played badminton with other great people,

and how wonderfully they combined with badminton,

there was no way to know how they finished playing badminton.

With clumsy skills, we didn't know why we played badminton every day.

We dreamed a nightmare where the shuttlecock kept clicking and flying over our heads.

To escape the nightmare,

waving badminton rackets, we blamed and struck each other.

"Did you call the tree here?" "Not me," we argued,

and we kept circling around the tree without backing down.

We already bent down to pick up the shuttlecock if it fell,

but that was a ceremonial greeting done when happy in Ethiopia.

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■ People who play badminton look kind. People who play badminton look happy. People who play badminton look truly joyful. People who play badminton at lunch look energetic, and people who play badminton in the evening look relaxed. People who play badminton in the morning look very healthy. People who play badminton always play badminton with others who play badminton. So they are never lonely. People who play badminton are so busy playing badminton that they have no time to be sad. So they even look great. I want to play badminton too. I want to laugh and play badminton wonderfully with someone on this spring day. Poet Chae Sang-woo

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.