Life and Biology stories with Sooyoung and Others
ironic living toward death, continue learning visible and invisible big big world around and inside us. Share your stories and poems here!!!
2025/7/26 차강석 씀
고향을 떠난 지 10여 년
그곳이 재개발을 앞두고 있다
현재의 사회 구조상
재개발된 아파트가 나를 버린다
버려진 나는 좁디좁은
임대아파트를 전전하다가
거대한 힘에 눌려 죽을 것이다
7/26/2025 written by Cha, KangSoek
It’s been over ten years
since I left my hometown
now poised for redevelopment.
In today’s Korea society,
The redeveloped apartment casts me aside.
Abandoned, I wander
small rental apartment to another
Until some colossal force
presses me to death
Today, I looked into the oldest existing poem in the world.
Although it is uncertain whether Gongmudohaga is the oldest poem in the world, it is certainly the oldest existing lyric poem.
Upon research, similar poems from roughly the same period (estimated 1st to 2nd century BCE) exist in Sumerian, Indian, and ancient Egyptian civilizations.
Notable examples include the Epic of Gilgamesh (Sumerian civilization), Ligurra’s Hymns (Sumerian civilization), pyramid tomb wall inscriptions (ancient Egypt), and the Rigveda (India).
Gongmudohaga, the oldest poem in the world, is estimated to be from the Late Gojoseon or early Goguryeo period, around the 2nd to 1st century BCE.
Original text of Gongmudohaga and Korean pronunciation
公無渡河 공무도하 Gong mu do hah
公竟渡河 공경도하 Gong gyeong do hah
墮河而死 타하이사 Ta ha i sa
嗚呼哀哉 당내공하 Dang nae gong ha
This poem is recorded in historical texts such as Haedong Yeoksa, Daedong Siseon, Cheonggu Sicho, Yeonamjip, and Samguk Yusa. Samguk Yusa was fully translated into English as the book titled Overlooked Historical Records of the Three Korean Kingdoms in 2006.
Content of Gongmudohaga (translated)
My dear, do not cross the river.
Yet you have crossed the river in the end.
Falling into the water, you died.
How shall I bear losing you, my beloved?
The author is unknown but traditionally believed to be the wife of Baek Sugwangbu or Yeok, the wife of Gwak Rijago, who helped preserve the song as a poem.
It is said that the poem was sung/shouted when a woman witnessed her husband drown while crossing a river and sang/cried this lament, which was then recorded and passed down as a song.
Reading Gonmudohaga, I feel that poetry is simply a kind of soliloquy that anyone speaks. It makes me think that there is no separate poet—everyone is a poet in their own way.
If you want to hear Gongmudohaga paraphrased and sung by singer Lee, SangEun:
2021/3/26 김수영 씀
바다에
배한척
배 안엔 혼자
비가 온다
폭풍이 친다
파도가 널 뛴다
시간만 많다면
허락이 된다면
배를 지키고 싶다
바다가 잠잠해 질때까지
배에 사람을 테우고 싶다
사람을 테울만큼 사이즈의 배이고 싶다
배를 버려야 하는 때인지
지켜야 하는 때인지
알수 없다
단지 내가 아는건
배 밖
육지엔
날 지키고자하는
내가 지켜야하는
사람들이 있다는것이다.
March 26, 2021, written by Sooyoung Kim
Adrift on the sea,
a solitary boat
and I, its only soul.
Rain begins to fall.
The storm roars.
Waves rise and crash like beasts in revolt.
If only time were on my side,
if only I had permission
I would stay,
guarding this boat
until the waters quiet,
until the storm forgives.
I dream of filling this vessel with others,
of becoming a boat
wide and strong enough to carry them.
But I do not know
whether this is the time to let go
or the time to hold on.
All I know is this:
beyond the bow,
on distant land,
there are those
who would shield me
and whom I must protect
in return.
2025/07/11 차강석 씀
황야에 소나기가 오고
사막에도 오아시스가 있듯
내 마음 어딘가에도 희망이 있을 것이다
그 희망을 찾기 위해
어두운 내 마음을 헤맸지만
아무것도 찾을 수 없었다
밖으로 눈을 돌려
계속 희망을 찾았지만
허망하게도 찾을 수 없었다
내 눈에 보이지 않는
소중한 희망을 찾았다고
친구로부터 목마른 편지가 왔다
07/11/2025 written by Cha, Kangseok
As rain falls upon the wilderness,
And oases bloom even in the desert,
So too somewhere within my heart
There must be hope.
To find that hope,
I wandered through the darkness inside me,
But found nothing.
Turning my eyes outward,
I kept searching for hope,
But in vain, it was nowhere to be found.
Then came a parched letter
From a friend,
Saying they had found
A precious hope
One I could not see
written by Jina Moon, Short Pump Middle School in 2018
As dawn came near
I was alone
In the deep, dark sea
I was scared
I was suffocating
There was no light, just dark and only dark
And when I was just about to given in
Someone held my hand
That someone became my light
That someone gave me hope
And I thought
Perhaps even in the most deepest part of the sea
Light can pierce through
translated in Korean by Moon, Boynyun
새벽이 다가올때
나는 홀로있어요
깊고 깊은 어둠의 바다 속 안에
나는 두려워요
숨도 막혀와요
빛도 없고 오직 어둠만이 있을 뿐이죠
포기하려던 그 순간
누군가 내 손을 잡아주었어요
그 누군가는 나의 빛이 되었고
나에게 희망을 안겨주었어요
그리고 나는 생각했죠
아마도 바다의 가장 깊은 곳에서도
빛은 스며들 수 있다고
This poem was recognized with 1st place in literature at Short Pump Middle School in 2018-2019 Reflection, with the PTA recognizes award at Henrico County Council in 2019, and with 1st place Award of Merit – Richmond District, Virginia
If you want to see some more writings written by kids, click here
2025, 05/24
폭포가 폭군처럼 흐른다
바위를 뚫고 맹렬히 흐른다
흥미로운 파문을 일으키며 흐른다
요사스럽고 아름답게 흐른다
흐르며 유속이 점차 느려진다
우유가 된 듯 요구르트처럼 요거트 같이
유속이 차차 느려져 치즈처럼 굳어졌다
그렇게 굳어진 폭포는
제 성격을 잃고 개천의 물이 되어
다시 한 번 용을 풂는 꿈을 꾸는 것 같다
The waterfall flows like a tyrant
It flows fiercely through the rocks
It flows creating interesting ripples
It flows mysteriously and beautifully
As it flows, the flow gradually slows down
It becomes milk, yoghurt, and then yogurt
The flow gradually slows down and hardens like cheese
The waterfall that has hardened like that
It loses its characters and becomes the water of a stream
It seems to dream of having a dragon once again
2025, o5 21
Meju is a brick of dried fermented soybeans. It is used for soybean paste (Doenjang) and soy sauce (Ganjang)
여기저기 갈라진 메주
틈과 주위에는 곰팡이가 핀 메주
죽은 나뭇가지 같이 말라빠진 메주
메주처럼 못 생긴 차강석
얼굴은 아주 토속적으로 생겼고
얼굴 아래는 사지마비에 언어 장애
메주를 쪼개서 곰팡이를 씻어내고
항아리에 물과 소금 그리고 숯과 고추 등을 넣고
햇빛과 공기 그리고 가장 중요한 정성을 섞어 된장을 만든다
차강석은 사지마비에 언어 장애로
실오라기 하나조차 옮길 힘이 없지만
왼발로 글을 써서 마음을 표현하여 사회와 활발히 소통한다
A Meju cracked here and there
A Meju moldy around the cracks,
A Meju dried up like dead tree branches
Cha, Kang-seok, ugly as the Meju
His face looks traditional
Below his face, he is paralyzed with speech impediment
the Meju bricks are split and washed off to remove molds.
water, salt, charcoal, and pepper are added and mixed.
sunlight, air, and most importantly, sincerity make Doenjang good.
Cha, Kang-Seok paralyzed with speech impediment, does not have any strength to move even a single thread.
But he actively communicates with society by writing with his left foot to express him.
Life and Biology stories with Sooyoung and Others 