Young-Soo Park

Unknown Road Young-Soo Park

"If my poems can soothe someone's soul... I don't mind being a clumsy poet." His poems, like the poet's noble cause, are made out of 'bright dew drops' by weaving 'compassion and love, ' 'sorrow and joy.' They are enough to embrace and soothe the souls of many people. Now, his soul is facing the saddest period of life. This is because, though the poet confesses, "The older you get, the better I get. You are my marrow who I will be with for my whole life," his companion is struggling with a serious illness. What can his soul be soothed with? Poetry is also the source of life for him. Paradoxically, growing up in great sorrow and tears, his poems ripen with aloofness and determination. Without losing his fortitude in the face of the fate of the finite life, the poet says, "Until the last breath, we should go," through his poems and asked me to hurry to translate these poems for earlier publication to empower his struggling wife. I wanted to do this favor for him and I had to do it, so I could concentrate on the translation without realizing that magnolias had bloomed and faded.