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.