[Afternoon Poem] Heartless and Regretful/Hwang Insuk

With about 20 meters left to the bus stop (or perhaps just over 20 meters)

As the bus just passes by

A young man, his baseball cap pulled low, starts running

Trying to catch that bus

I run too

So I won’t miss the next bus

Because missing it would be a disaster

I am sensitive

To the difference between “about 20 minutes” and “20 minutes or so”

And yet, often, sometimes very often,

I am late

At the end of it all, you are finished with me

No longer waiting-it's over!

You said you would end it here

■ "Yasokhada" means "to feel upset because of someone's heartless actions or the person who acted that way," while "aesokhada" means "to feel sad and regretful." In other words, "yasokhada" carries a sense of reproach toward the other person, whereas "aesokhada" is imbued with a sense of sorrow or pity for the subject. Therefore, it is actually a bit awkward to use "yasokhada" and "aesokhada" together. But why did the poet choose to place these two words side by side? Looking at the poem, the one who is late is "I." And "you" have "ended it for good." So naturally, the one who might feel "yasokhada" is "you." Of course, the feeling of "aesokhada" belongs to "me." However, the poem does not stop there. In the last two lines, it lists reasons why "I" might seem heartless to "you." If you look only at this part, "you" seem truly cold. But did "you" really declare, "No longer waiting-it's over!"? Of course, that could be the case. Yet, if we interpret this utterance as an ironic situation actively constructed by "me," it becomes much more intriguing. Only when "you" are completely merciless does my mistake become truly irreparable. And it is precisely at this moment that the feeling of "aesokhada" becomes a passion akin to fate. One more thing: as with Oedipus, the more one tries to avoid fate, the more precisely it comes to pass. Poet Chae Sangwoo

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