나의 마음 속
누구도 모르는 산등성에
한 그루 설목을 가꾸어 왔습니다
나뭇잎 지고
시냇물마저 여위는 가을을
최후의 계절이라 믿었던 어느 그 날,
사랑하노라 사랑하노라던 사람
떠나고 없음이여
미워하면서 나를 미워하면서
내 옆에 남아줌이 더욱 백 배는
고맙고 복되었을 것을
물방울 소리 하나 들리지 않는
두터운 철문 같은 고요 속에
나뭇가지 사철 고드름 달고
소스라쳐 위로 설악(雪岳)에 뻗는
백엽보다도 희고 손 시린 이 나무는
역력히 이 나무를 닮고
역력히 이 마음을 닮은
내 사랑의 표지입니다
붉은 날인과 같은 회상입니다
당신이여
불씨 한 줌 머금고 죽어도 좋을
이 외로운 겨울밤 겨울밤

Kim Nam-jo — Snow Tree
Deep within my heart,
upon a ridge no one knows,
I have tended
a single snow tree.
There came a day
when the leaves had fallen,
when even the stream had thinned away,
and I believed autumn
to be the final season.
The one who used to say,
“I love you, I love you,”
was gone.
Had that person stayed beside me,
even in bitterness,
even while hating me,
how much more grateful,
how much more blessed
I would have been.
In a silence
heavy as a thick iron gate,
where not even the sound
of one falling drop can be heard,
this tree stands,
its branches bearing icicles
through all four seasons,
startled upward, reaching
toward the snowy peaks.
Whiter than pale leaves,
cold enough to sting the hand,
this tree so clearly resembles itself,
and so clearly resembles
this heart of mine.
It is the sign of my love,
a memory stamped
like a red seal.
O you—
on this lonely winter night,
this winter night,
I would not mind dying
with only a handful of embers
still glowing within me