Today’s poem:
In A Crowded Place, I by Na Tae-ju
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    Thank you for sharing!

    I don’t know what its original context was, but your choice of poem hits home harder than a lot of things for me personally today: it’s nine years to the day since my mom passed.

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      It was from a poetry book and didn’t really say what it was about. Who knows? The poet must have gone through the same. I feel like the power of poetry is with timing. It becomes meaningful depending on what you feel the moment you read them.

      I won’t pretend I know how it feels and that I know what to say because I don’t. I’m glad the poem might have comforted you in a way I couldn’t.

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        Of course, I understand 🙂 no worries.

        I agree with you about the power of poetry! There’s also something about poetry in non-English languages that captures sensibilities in ways that English-language poetry does not. It’s a combination of cultural context and the evocativeness of the native language itself – translations do not always do them justice.

        Inspired by your efforts at translations on your fanwall, I’ve been teaching myself hangul and trying to pick up words, so that I can appreciate the nuances of the dialogues (and poetry, when the occasion arises!) better.

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          I agree! My native language is Filipino and poems in that language speaks to me like no other can. It’s tough because no matter what we do, the emotions cannot be translated. It’s always better to read them raw.

          Yay for learning Hangul! It really helps when watching dramas and understanding the context presented in dialogues that English can’t express. Have you see Deep Rooted Tree by any chance? It is about King Sejong the Great and the promulgation of Hangul. It really gave me a deep appreciation of Korean letters.

          I’ll post the original poem with the translations next time I post^^

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            Same with me – the only language, besides English, that I read with some degree of fluency (though not as well) is Hindi. As a child I crammed most of the Hindi poetry we were taught. But as an adult, I began to appreciate the sounds of the language and the sentiments expressed much better. Especially because they all seemed so familiar.

            I began Tree with Deep Roots, but left it for some reason a few episodes in. I have always intended to return to it. Will do so soon! Thanks for the reminder. 🙂

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