Though people say many different things,
Life is
To become a briquette, gladly
For somebody else.
From the day the floor chills to the day spring comes,
The most beautiful thing in the streets of Korea
Is a truck that fervidly climbs up the hill
with briquettes.
As if it knows its mission,
A briquette burns endlessly
Once its body catches fire, but
I was oblivious even when I had
warm rice and soup every day.
For I feared becoming a lonely lump of ashes
After loving others with my whole being,
I haven’t become a briquette for anyone.
When I think about it,
Life is
To shatter myself into pieces.
I had never thought of
Clearing the street for others to roam
When the world is slippery with snow in early spring.