광복동에서 만난 이중섭은
머리에 바다를 이고 있었다.
동경에서 아내가 온다고
바다보다도 진한 빛깔 속으로
사라지고 있었다
눈을 씻고 보아도
길 위에
발자국이 보이지 않았다
한참 뒤에 나는 또
남포동에서 어느 찻집에서
이중섭을 보았다
바다가 잘 보이는 창가에 앉아
진한 어둠이 깔린 바다를
그는 한뼘 한뼘 지우고 있었다
동경에서 아내는 오지 않는다고,
“Lee Jung-Seob, the painter I knew” – Kim Chun-Su
——–translated by Jose Luis Moctezuma
I met Lee Jung-Seob in Kwangbok district.
He carried the sea on his head.
He said his wife would return from Tokyo,
but was lost in a blue more intense than the ocean.
However much I rinsed my eyes
no trace could be discerned in the streets.
After some time
I found him again in a teahouse
in Nampo district.
He was seated next to a window
from which the sea could be seen
adumbrated by a thick penumbra,
and he erased the sea
with the span of his hand
entirely.
He tells me his wife won’t return
from Tokyo.
