Translated by Chae-Pyong Song

Photography by Hye Hyon

A Winter Love by Moon Jung-hee

Like snow flakes I long to come to you.
Without wavering
without rambling
without concealing
I long to plunge into your white life
and become a warm winter.
I long to snow for a thousand years.

겨울 사랑 – 문정희

눈송이처럼 너에게 가고 싶다.
머뭇거리지 말고
서성대지 말고
숨기지 말고
그냥 네 하얀 생애 속에 뛰어들어
따스한 겨울이 되고 싶다.
천년 백설이 되고 싶다.

(이 세상 모든 사랑은 무죄이다, 1998)

(Darcy Brandel read an earlier version of this translation.)

Mun Jung-hee (1947- ) was born in Bosung, Jeollanam-do. She received her Ph.D. from Seoul Women’s University. She made her literary debut in 1969 in The Literature Monthly. Her poetry collections include The Baby Brier, For Men, Now Following the Rose, I am the Door, The Joy of Love, and The Prolific Virgin. She received such prestigious awards as the Modern Literature Award and the Sowol Poetry Award.