Two Poems

Sijo from the 靑丘永言 (the Ch’ǒnggu yǒng’ǒn, “Classic Poems of Korea”)
Anonymous (likely 14th–17th centuries; collected ca. 1728)
Translated by Spencer Lee-Lenfield

459

loveRain:
iainrainiihow is itRainrain?
RainrainrainrainrainiirainroundishRainrain,
RainrainrainrainrainrainrainrainriiirainrainflattishRainrain;
longishRainrainiii,
RainrainrainrainiishortishRainrain,
Rainrainrainrainrainrainrainiiiraina footRainrainrain,
Rainrainrainrainrainrainrainrainrainrainraiiiriiirainiia yardRainrainrii?
I don’t know
Rainrainrainrainiiabout “long,” butRainrain—
RainrainrainrainrainrainrainrainrainraiiiiiiaiRainrain!
Rainrainrainrainrainrainrainrainrainrainrainrainrainii it shreds gutsRain!

478

but what but what 
Rainrainrainraini ask my mother-in-law 
Rainrainrainrainrainrainrainrainrainrainrainbut what should I do
scooping rice for a man not your son,
Rainrainrainrainthe brass spoon pierced the sack—
Rainrainrainrainrainrainrainrainrainrainrainrainiiiwhat should I do, I ask her—
“child, don’t worryRaini—         
Rainrainrainrainrainraiiwhen we were young, Rainwe, too
Rainrainrainrainrainrainrainrainrainrainrainrainrainrainrainbroke many a spoon” 

—

Spencer Lee-Lenfield’s previous translations of Korean poetry and prose have appeared in publications including Guernica, New England Review, The Dial, Asymptote, Colorado Review, and the Korean-focused specialty zine chogwa. His translation of contemporary Korean poet Shin Hae-uk’s work, under the title Biologicity, will appear with Black Ocean in late 2024. As a scholar of Korean and Korean American literature, his current research focuses on the history of literary translation between Korean and English in the Korean diaspora over roughly the past century. He is also an assistant editor at The Yale Review.