A Cry in Search of Poetry

Yong Wan Choi 05.16.07

Leaning my stiffened body on a crooked cane
I groped my way along the road I had lost
and so I pleaded at the mere sight of your shadow
my heart, unable to weep or laugh, longing to pour itself out,
cries out toward you with all my soul.

The unstoppable cry opens a small door at the end of the alley
and as I step into your courtyard
I am consumed by the torch held high
a burst floodgate streams down from my two eyes

This body spreads its wings, wraps itself in white smoke,
rises high into a sky where long, long years have passed
and when I reach deep into the heart I had emptied
joy overflows in your boundlessly open courtyard

Water comes into the desert and young shoots grow
the joy of meeting flows through newly pulsing veins
the song of hills and fields trembling with excitement
I see you dancing merrily in your stocking feet