Poet Dr. Kang, Byeong-Cheol is a Korean author and poet, born in Jeju City, South Korea, in 1964. He began writing in 1993, publishing his first short story, “Song of Shuba,” at the age of twenty-nine. He released a collection of short stories in 2005 and has since won eight literature awards and published more than twelve books. From 2009 to 2014, he served as a member of The Writers in Prison Committee (WiPC) of PEN International. Additionally, he worked as an editorial writer for JeminIlbo, a newspaper in Jeju City, Korea. He holds a PhD in Political Science and currently serves as the Vice President of The Korean Institute for Peace and Cooperation and vice president of Jeju PEN. Moreover, he holds the position of founding President of the Korean Association of World Literature
CAT’S CRY IN THE DEEP NIGHT
From the corner of the deep night,
a cry soaked in starlight flows out.
A lone cat, groping through the arms of darkness,
searches for its lost heart.
Its cry rides upon the wind,
suckling the nipple of the moon —
all the world’s longing
seeps into that small voice.
For a moment, silence drapes the sky.
A mother’s shadow returns,
gathers one fragile warmth into her arms.
Only then does the night find its breath.
Yet far away, through Gaza’s smoke,
beneath the moon stained by sorrow,
another cat is crying.
Its cry licks the wounds of the stars and asks —
“Peace, when will you awaken?”
