9) Cheoseo*

     Wolran Kim

 

Just like rain, just like an empty pot

It is raining, and you are leaving

 

Wondering why my eyes are as cold as the wind of a poor harvest

Dew falls like the sign of my water breaking

 

I, just as usual

Wear autumn, with long sleeves

 

Like a mosquito who has a crooked mouth from swallowing up the cold

My ribs are hollow and my words are lost

 

There is nothing to do, such as watering the rice paddies

My eyes dry my books

 

You, who comes riding the cricket’s back

Are just crying

 

Wrinkled people who weed the mind of the earth

Tidy up graves on dead land because they know when it grows dark

 

The world goes on with no feet

Becoming a weakened hot wind

 

Be loved you are leaving

 

* Cheoseo: One of the 24 seasonal divisions, around August 23rd. The hot weather dies down around this time.