Poet Han Ina was born in Cheongju, Chungcheongbuk-do, South Korea. She graduated from Cheongju National University of Education and is currently an active member of the Korean Poets Association, the Korean Writers’ Association, and the Catholic Writers’ Association. Her major works include Water Color Table, Letters Written at Florian Café, Glass Self-Portrait, Sitter, Layers of Autumn Leaves, Three Days of Running Away Outside the Surangama Sutra, and When the Right Shade Becomes Me.
She has received the Seoul Literary Award Grand Prize, the Korean Poetry Award, the Naeryuk Literature Award, the Republic of Korea Poet Award Grand Prize, and the Yeongchuk Literature Award. Additionally, her poetry collection was selected for the Sejong Book Sharing program. She currently serves as the Vice President of the Korean Association of World Literature.
WATER COLOR TABLE
She set the table in the shade of a tree
in the water garden.
The river before us shimmered,
the meadow cast shadows of green.
Only we had aged so much.
Our fresh table, prepared with sincerity
A lively story unfolds
It seems like a dinner where the water color will fade
Today, I decided not to waste myself,
not to live too fiercely.
A flat garden of water with no steps,
the blue-shadowed meadow,
and me, lying beneath the tree,
claiming the sky.
That is my everything today
the quiet peak of my life,
where no one is sad.
I, a shadow of a shadow, smile.
A friend long gone wanders
the fields of the afterlife, unable to come.
Stories that fluttered for ages
settle, at last, like a handful of wind.
Prepared by Angela Kosta Executive Director of the Magazines: MIRIADE, NUANCES ON THE PANORAMIC CANVAS, BRIDGES OF LITERATURE, journalist, poet, essayist, publisher, literary critic, editor, translator, promoter
