At The Train Station, 1983
The last train rarely arrived.
Snowflakes piled up all night long
outside of the waiting room.
Each of the windows was frozen stiff
as if liliaceous snowflakes,
mirroring the flaming stove by sawdust.
Some were drowsing off like
At the end of the month,
Some were coughing caused by a cold.
I threw a handful of sawdust into the fire,
recalling the moment
I longed for.
Nobody did tell, though
they have many things to talk
deep in their heart,
warming their blue-cold palms at the fire.
Everybody knew
they have to hold their tongues.
Sometimes living is like a drunken instant
with the sentiment
they have to return home,
fondling a basket of apples
and a rope of twenty dried corvinas.
The chronic coughing
and the smoke of a cigarette which
looks like a bitter medicine.
Snowflakes are tranquility piling up.
Now everybody is soaking in their ears
in the harmony of the snowflakes.
When it exceeds midnight,
The unfamiliarity,
The pain of bone,
All these things just become a snowy field.
To where the night train is going with
putting some of the maplelike windows again...
I threw a handful of tears into the fire,
calling the moments I longed for.
Poet: JK, Kwak(1954 ~ current)
ă…ˇTranslated by Shalom/ ISOURBLOG ă…ˇ
 |
| The Warmth Image: free Pixabay |
🌷 I like this insightful and outspoken/honest poem... Whenever it snows, or whenever I look at a railroad, this poem used to come into my mind... I hope to see snow this winter as well...
I post this poem that I translated in person not as a professional translator, thus I don't know how deeply it can impress to readers, so that I would like to add my "personal view" about this poem that I feel... Hope it could be helped to understand and we could feel it all together...In this poem, therein lies something inner meanings, but it doesn't hint at the correct answer of what it is exactly meant each of words, so readers "just" should feel it with their heart... Anyway, this is my personal view:
The last train...
We people might wait for "the last train" in the waiting room at the train station, which means that we people await the things as if the last traină…ˇeither hope or deathă…ˇ in our lives.
Along the way, what if people cannot get on the last train, then they cannot arrive at the place that they want to go within the very day, in other words, it might be meant a desperate wish...
People look very "toilsome" to live" with the "chilly winter", the last of the four seasons like the last night train, in the waiting room, which was depicted as those who dozed offă…ˇperhaps, due to the fatigue by working for a livingă…ˇ and as those who deeply coughed... There, each of the windows was frozen stiff as though liliaceous snowflakes... Among them, there was a flaming stove that could console them with the scarlet warmth...
Each of their lives might have their own life-sufferings deep in their heart, nevertheless, nobody doesn't tell the heartache in the waiting room, heavily holding their tongues...
We people might know the moment that we cannot even talk anything to "other people", feeling the absolute loneliness alone... Moreover, there might not be permitted anything to tell about our life-sufferings, which means it will be "redundant/useless" to tell it to other people... Because, we people might know that they can never become "ourselves" like this poem:
In The Fog
O, preternatural, as I walk in the fog!
Every wood, every stone is lonesome.
Every tree cannot see other trees.
Everybody is alone.
When my life was still radiant,
This world was crammed with friends.
Now the fog comes down.
Nothing is seen any longer.
The one is truly unwise who
doesn't know the darkness
that splits him up from everything
unavoidably,
noiselessly.
O, preternatural, as I walk in the fog!
Life is to be alone.
No one knows others.
Everybody is alone.
Poet: Hermann Hesse (1877~1962, Germany)
ă…ˇTranslated By Shalom/ ISOURBLOG ă…ˇ
O, preternatural, as I walk in the fog!
Every wood, every stone is lonesome.
Every tree cannot see other trees.
Everybody is alone.
When my life was still radiant,
This world was crammed with friends.
Now the fog comes down.
Nothing is seen any longer.
The one is truly unwise who
doesn't know the darkness
that splits him up from everything
unavoidably,
noiselessly.
O, preternatural, as I walk in the fog!
Life is to be alone.
No one knows others.
Everybody is alone.
Poet: Hermann Hesse (1877~1962, Germany)
ă…ˇTranslated By Shalom/ ISOURBLOG ă…ˇ
We people might not even be able to rely on other people like the above poem so that it makes us more sorrowful and painful..., everybody will know the moment, every single moment of our stay, that we are alone, even if we have many things to talk, but cannot even say the things... as such, we must hold our tongues like them...
Even I heard that if bloggers blog the things that they wish to write, then, as they say, they cannot make money therewith, as a result, they cannot even blog what they want to write... Because, they have to blog to ingratiate other people, if not so, money has nothing to do with them... Money is irrelevant... Regardless, in my case, I might have been blogging about what I wanted to write... that is, my mind and heart...
What life is...
In this poem, the poet seems to know what life is like this phrase; "Sometimes living is like a drunken instant."
Yes... life may be a "drunk moment", in spite of that, people may still dream their dreams like a chronic alcoholic(addict)...
But they will know that they should come back home in the end, which means the former place, with an empty hand or a petty fruit..., like this;
" A basket of apples and a rope of twenty dried corvinas. "These things will not be meant an abundant harvest like they wished for.
Apples might be symbolized something of our(man's) ambition or avarice in our lives like Adam and Eve were tempted by their covetousness... and...
That being said, the reddish apple will not be meant the real fruit word-for-word like" The Snow White" (author: Wilhelm Grimm, Jacob Grimm, Germany, 1812) ate the appetizing and poisoned apple that the black witch lured her to kill...
 |
| The Tempting Apple... The Animated Film The Snow White & The Seven Dwarfs |
In doing so, people fondle and fondle, and fondle the petty apples, their trivial achievements, with a lingering attachment/regret, which they could never achieve their aims in their lives... and then, they have to come back home(the former place) again only with a basket of apples and a rope of twenty dried corvinas...
The shabby homecoming... the shabby...homecoming...
Such suffering of life seems to be depicted by the chronic coughing and the cigarette smoke that looks like a bitter medicine. In the meantime, snowflakes are silently...silently... piling up outside of the waiting room, namely in our lives...
So, now people who were utterly exhausted to "live" with their ambition/greed might want to soak in their ears
in the harmony of the snowflakes, which means that they might want to be released from... and then, now might want to be soothed with the harmony of the snowflakes.
For when it exceeds midnight, the end of the day, which might be meant the end of life, everything will be covered by snow as if a snowy filedă…ˇ a white world, a new world, unlike the dark midnight... On that day, all our sufferings of life might be fully covered by snowing...
To live is, might be the same as " the unfamiliarity " that we must live in this world. For this world may not be our original hometown...
Everything might be converted into unfamiliarity especially to those who might have been forsaken by people and this world as if an outcast and not as an earthman...
And all our lives might turn out the "pain of bone" that we people have to sick thereby... to the bone, to the marrow...
Such lives are still going to somewhere else like the night train that is put the maplelike windows, which might be meant our(a man's) dreams...
 |
| Image: pixabay |
In other words, that dreams look like maplelike windows, which says that a man's dream is "unnoted" like tiny maple leaves. In short, it will be meant that a man's dream(lust for life) is nothing...
Everybody is on the night train, which will be "the first and the last" train... And we are going somewhere else again today...
Here, there is another similar train, is this:
 |
| The Third-class Carriage, 1862 Oil On Canvas By Honoré Daumier, France Image: Google |
In the carriage, the boy is dozing off beside the old woman, and the old woman is putting her hands together with an expressionless face, which looks that she takes a detached/dispassionate stance like she has an expressionless face.
The young mother and her baby, the dozing boy, all they might be the old woman's familyă…ˇprobably, the young mother might be her daughter or daughter-in-law, and the drowsing boy might be her own grandson... On the flip-side, it looks that they are not even family members, but rather there seem to stream the atmosphere that is "the unfamiliarity."
In the painting, every person on the train looks that they take up their lives just as it is with the heavy silence... The low-class train is also going somewhere else...
 |
| Gargantua, 1831 Honoré Daumier, France Image: Google |
Anyway, Honoré Daumier painted a "cynical realism " and lampooned/satirized the depraved government and the
high society in France as above.
The monstrously fat man who looks like an emperor, the strong, is serially swallowing something earnings from the poor, the weak, whereas a lean/thin mother and her baby
look wearied with a hunger, flopping down on the ground in stark contrast with the emperor who is sitting down on the high throne.
Meanwhile, those who look at the emperor's disloyal retainer are receiving "benefits" from the same disloyal emperor. The emperor's "belly" looks very "HUGE" and "FAT", for he only swallows many earnings, squeezing/bleeding white labors and harvests from the poor, the weak.
In such a setting, Honoré Daumier wanted to expose the fallen government and society through his paintings, however, sadly... he was sent to jail and was confined in the mental hospital due to his cynical caricatures against... At last, even he lost the use of his eyes by aging... and the lucky never came back to him...
Well, when we people ride in a train to travel, esp. if it is a foreign trip, then we might feel something "sweet expectations/excitements" to experience a new world through.
People might dream something romantic mood and ambition through traveling, so to speak, a new expectation in our lives, which might be able to get out of our routine/daily lives...
In my case, whenever I just viewed photos of travel items: train, airplane, airport, hotel, restaurant, car, railroad, seashore, an exotic landscape, ship, travel-carrier, passport, laptop, camera...etc. I used to indirectly feel such sentiments...
In my country, a great number of people have emigrated to other countries in order to live better than now out there, endlessly "admiring" a "NEW LIFE", or have gone to study abroad to get a better job.
But, who would want to deliberately employ such foreign students who graduated colleges/universities out there instead of their domestic citizens, unless they are extremely outstanding than domestic citizens?...
True be told, nowadays, even domestic citizens may be very difficult to get a job in their own countries.
Further, colleges and universities might only want to make money through such international students' tuition... and they will never guarantee foreign students' future after graduating...
And plenty of people in my country have traveled to other countries, peacocking/boasting their financial ability therewith. But I often heard the news; even some were killed or mistreated from, and died by a cause of a plane crash, while they were traveling out there... yes...it will be a rare case... but yet, it is also the very reality.
Well, as soon as the COVID-19 pandemic burst out all over the world, they were also infectedă…ˇthey couldn't even receive medical treatment out there(other countries) which they have admired and have envied to emigrate, or to study, or to travel. And then, they are continuously coming back to my country, thus domestic citizens have denounced/condemned them through a news comment section, which I have read :
In short, " What selfish they are! "
Because, they turned their back against their "homeland" for the sake of their benefits as if a betrayer, but when they were faced with the difficulty(coronavirus pandemic), above all, they came back to their own country so as to heal themselves. For my country has a good medical service under government management. Who would want to "die" just as it is, in other countries?... Our government embraced and supported them.
Beyond that, they exploit our medical service not as a domestic citizen, whereas domestic citizens have to pay their taxes every month. In conclusion, I think that emigrating or immigrating will be the factor to cause harm to those who live there as domestic citizens.
In one sense, those who emigrate or immigrate are neither A nor B, in doing so, they might only want to take good benefits from both their homelands and their immigration countries. In other words, they have a double or multiple nationality/citizenship.
That said, I don't know well about the law of double or multiple citizenships. But it will be proper that they ought to have only one citizenshipă…ˇif they acquired other countries' citizenship, then they will have to give up their own countries' citizenship. Despite they don't want to "nullify" domestic citizenship in order to exploit their homeland's privilege either. That is why domestic citizens are condemning them on and on, whenever they come back to their own country(my country)...
When they take time off or have a school vacation, they return to my country(their homeland) in order to receive medical servicesă…ˇesp. plastic surgery, dental treatment, dermatological treatment, and other serious illness, taking advantage of the medical service like they are domestic citizens. They don't pay their taxes for their homeland but pay their taxes for their immigration countries.
I have dreamed to travel other countries, and have envied those who can live and visit other countries, now I don't want to admire them, because I was perceived this:
I remember a traditional Russian story ă…ˇhowever, I cannot expressly remember. For I read it when I was young... There was a greedy man. One day, he was given a chance to occupy a vast/large land, which he could mark the land as much as he wanted. Even so, he had to come back to the former place until the sun goes down.
He was vastly exciting to occupy the "extensive" landă…ˇlike Russia itself has a wide territory. Because, as long as he marks the land, all the land that he marks is supposed to give over to him, accordingly he wanted to occupy the land as much as he can mark... He started marking on the land far away... and far away...
However, unfortunately, he couldn't come back to the former place before sundown due to his greed, for he was too far from the range... After all, he was not able to own ANYTHING the land...As a result, his effort was to be ZERO automatically...
Similarly, people might have to know this; when they die, they only take up space a jar-sized space to be buried, which will be put their dust of bone into the pot, a handful of dust, even though they can emigrate or immigrate or travel to other countries, all over the world...
In some ways, this world is not too wide... but is very narrow... Because the space that they will be buried with the pot is pretty narrow, unlike their ambitious dream...
When I was young, I used to watch this famous animated film "Galaxy Express 999". Now I don't clearly remember what it has stories, but I remember the galaxy express 999 traveled all over the universeă…ˇyes it was not this earth but was a vast and infinite universe!
Every time the train, galaxy express 999, arrived at each of the stars, there were diverse life stories with those who inhabited those stars...
In the animation, I blurredly remember, a woman who had a long hair was playing the classical guitar on the star, singing this doleful song, which was a children's song; this is a part of the lyrics that I translate:
On that day...
high society in France as above.
The monstrously fat man who looks like an emperor, the strong, is serially swallowing something earnings from the poor, the weak, whereas a lean/thin mother and her baby
look wearied with a hunger, flopping down on the ground in stark contrast with the emperor who is sitting down on the high throne.
Meanwhile, those who look at the emperor's disloyal retainer are receiving "benefits" from the same disloyal emperor. The emperor's "belly" looks very "HUGE" and "FAT", for he only swallows many earnings, squeezing/bleeding white labors and harvests from the poor, the weak.
In such a setting, Honoré Daumier wanted to expose the fallen government and society through his paintings, however, sadly... he was sent to jail and was confined in the mental hospital due to his cynical caricatures against... At last, even he lost the use of his eyes by aging... and the lucky never came back to him...
Well, when we people ride in a train to travel, esp. if it is a foreign trip, then we might feel something "sweet expectations/excitements" to experience a new world through.
People might dream something romantic mood and ambition through traveling, so to speak, a new expectation in our lives, which might be able to get out of our routine/daily lives...
In my case, whenever I just viewed photos of travel items: train, airplane, airport, hotel, restaurant, car, railroad, seashore, an exotic landscape, ship, travel-carrier, passport, laptop, camera...etc. I used to indirectly feel such sentiments...
In my country, a great number of people have emigrated to other countries in order to live better than now out there, endlessly "admiring" a "NEW LIFE", or have gone to study abroad to get a better job.
But, who would want to deliberately employ such foreign students who graduated colleges/universities out there instead of their domestic citizens, unless they are extremely outstanding than domestic citizens?...
True be told, nowadays, even domestic citizens may be very difficult to get a job in their own countries.
Further, colleges and universities might only want to make money through such international students' tuition... and they will never guarantee foreign students' future after graduating...
And plenty of people in my country have traveled to other countries, peacocking/boasting their financial ability therewith. But I often heard the news; even some were killed or mistreated from, and died by a cause of a plane crash, while they were traveling out there... yes...it will be a rare case... but yet, it is also the very reality.
Well, as soon as the COVID-19 pandemic burst out all over the world, they were also infectedă…ˇthey couldn't even receive medical treatment out there(other countries) which they have admired and have envied to emigrate, or to study, or to travel. And then, they are continuously coming back to my country, thus domestic citizens have denounced/condemned them through a news comment section, which I have read :
In short, " What selfish they are! "
Because, they turned their back against their "homeland" for the sake of their benefits as if a betrayer, but when they were faced with the difficulty(coronavirus pandemic), above all, they came back to their own country so as to heal themselves. For my country has a good medical service under government management. Who would want to "die" just as it is, in other countries?... Our government embraced and supported them.
Beyond that, they exploit our medical service not as a domestic citizen, whereas domestic citizens have to pay their taxes every month. In conclusion, I think that emigrating or immigrating will be the factor to cause harm to those who live there as domestic citizens.
In one sense, those who emigrate or immigrate are neither A nor B, in doing so, they might only want to take good benefits from both their homelands and their immigration countries. In other words, they have a double or multiple nationality/citizenship.
That said, I don't know well about the law of double or multiple citizenships. But it will be proper that they ought to have only one citizenshipă…ˇif they acquired other countries' citizenship, then they will have to give up their own countries' citizenship. Despite they don't want to "nullify" domestic citizenship in order to exploit their homeland's privilege either. That is why domestic citizens are condemning them on and on, whenever they come back to their own country(my country)...
When they take time off or have a school vacation, they return to my country(their homeland) in order to receive medical servicesă…ˇesp. plastic surgery, dental treatment, dermatological treatment, and other serious illness, taking advantage of the medical service like they are domestic citizens. They don't pay their taxes for their homeland but pay their taxes for their immigration countries.
I have dreamed to travel other countries, and have envied those who can live and visit other countries, now I don't want to admire them, because I was perceived this:
" Traveling is not to leave, but is to come back home again."Well, it might be self-justification which I cannot afford to do... but that definition will not be wrong either...
I remember a traditional Russian story ă…ˇhowever, I cannot expressly remember. For I read it when I was young... There was a greedy man. One day, he was given a chance to occupy a vast/large land, which he could mark the land as much as he wanted. Even so, he had to come back to the former place until the sun goes down.
He was vastly exciting to occupy the "extensive" landă…ˇlike Russia itself has a wide territory. Because, as long as he marks the land, all the land that he marks is supposed to give over to him, accordingly he wanted to occupy the land as much as he can mark... He started marking on the land far away... and far away...
However, unfortunately, he couldn't come back to the former place before sundown due to his greed, for he was too far from the range... After all, he was not able to own ANYTHING the land...As a result, his effort was to be ZERO automatically...
Similarly, people might have to know this; when they die, they only take up space a jar-sized space to be buried, which will be put their dust of bone into the pot, a handful of dust, even though they can emigrate or immigrate or travel to other countries, all over the world...
In some ways, this world is not too wide... but is very narrow... Because the space that they will be buried with the pot is pretty narrow, unlike their ambitious dream...
 |
| The Animated Film In Japan Galaxy Express 999 |
Every time the train, galaxy express 999, arrived at each of the stars, there were diverse life stories with those who inhabited those stars...
In the animation, I blurredly remember, a woman who had a long hair was playing the classical guitar on the star, singing this doleful song, which was a children's song; this is a part of the lyrics that I translate:
In the moonlight,
Wild geese fly,
as crickets are crying in the bush...Now everybody cannot travel the vast and infinite universe, getting on the train... But, when we people die, our Spirit might be possible to travel the whole universe including Andromeda galaxy (not OUR galaxy which we can see stars at night on the earth) like the galaxy express 999 traveled all over the universe...
On that day...
