Translated by Chae-Pyong Song and Anne Rashid

Spring by Yun Dong-ju

Spring runs within blood vessels like a stream,
and on the bank near a stream
forsythias, azaleas, and yellow cabbage flowers

I, who have endured winter,
sprout like grass

Joyful robin,
fly up from any furrow

The blue sky
glistens high above

봄/윤동주

봄이 혈관 속에 시내처럼 흘러
돌 , 돌, 시내 가차운 언덕에
개나리, 진달래, 노오란 배추꽃

삼동(三冬)을 참어온 나는
풀포기처럼 피어난다.

즐거운 종달새야
어느 이랑에서나 즐거웁게 솟쳐라.

푸르른 하늘은
아른아른 높기도 한데

(Melanie Steyn read the earlier version of this translation.)

Yun Dong-ju (1917 – 1945) was born in Longjing, Jiandao, in present-day northeastern China. He was known for lyric poetry as well as resistance poetry against Japanese colonialism.