Yun Jong Lee , Cheongju High School
Cheongju, Chungcheongbuk-do
After school ends, the night becomes damp.
Through a crack of one window,
a quiet room
Rain falling outside
Turning on the bright light inside,
resembling a flower bud in bloom
I shed my school uniform.
Outside the window,
a flower bed.
All the buds yet to be bloomed at stake
precariously getting soaked.
A dark scent fills the air
One by one they hang their heads.
With only pitch black puddles
They cannot defeat the great mighty drops
After fallen petals, a sinking
A branch gets wet
So it becomes bent, warped.
Through a crack of one window,
a still room
Fallen flowers.
Through the clear window
My figure is reflected.
After the sinking, a fall into silence
My neck bends, head bows.
With compassionate sorrow, a silence after sinking.
With immovable regret, a silence after sinking.
Submitted by Christine Oh, ETA ’14-’15
In Christine’s words, “Yunjong’s poem commemorates the lives that were lost during the Sewol tragedy and reflects some of the emotions that other students in his nation may have felt during the incident and the following healing period.”