Silver Knife Pendant

Grandmother left us her small wooden chest

containing rice paper, ink stone, and writing brush,

and a small silver knife trinket.

A woman of the last Chosun Kingdom,

She maintained her duty as the only daughter-in-law

of a landed gentry household that she managed with class and dignity

after her husband took a modern educated woman

as a concubine in the city.

She happened to have only one daughter 

and a kind of a son.

She raised one nephew who lost his parents at a young age

and he became the first first-class licensed pilot 

in Korean history,

the first Korean pilot 

who flew through the sky from Japan to Korea 

with his own airplane.

So she taught all of her family members 

not to kill any flying insects,

and she prayed for her nephew's safety 

at the Sunwoonsa Temple nearby.

The silver knife trinket 

and the ladies’ treasure chest

reflecting the spirit of the women of the Chosun era

is now worth more than any million dollar antique treasure.

The knife is supposed to be 

the knife with which she would kill herself

under disgraceful circumstances.

 My Mother 

 

In 1982, she came to my house on the way to visit her younger son in Belgium 

and her daughter in Cameroon. 

During her stay with me, she washed dishes and mowed the lawn. 

I told her dish-washing and lawn mowing were my jobs. 

She told me,  

“I am still healthy. You are working hard at your work. 

So these are my jobs while I am here.” 

Then I said, “Dish-washing was my first American job. 

Now, I like this job in the kitchen.” 

Then, 

Suddenly her tears streamed out from her eyes

“I could never allowed you to step in to my kitchen.  

You are my precious son.” 

I comforted her, “I know you raised me as a prince.” 

During the Thanksgiving Holidays, she knitted my sweater and hat. 

I am still wearing the sweater and the hat on this Thanksgiving 

As has been and the whole winter. 

I believe my mother's sacrifice and love, 

and prayer that sustains my life from here to eternity. 

“Mother, I love you forever.” 

 An Empty Field

Below the Simchon railroad station,

There was a vast field. 

My grandfather planted turnips and cabbages there in the summer.

Several trucks from Taejon hauled the harvest away in the late fall.

The following dawn,

The vacant field was now covered with bright morning frost,

And I stole a glance at the sparkling tears in the eyes of

My grandfather.