FŪDO 041 · 2003 · Late Jeju · poem

The Sea Is the Haenyeo’s Tears

바다는 해녀의 눈물

Basic information

Identifier	FŪDO 041
Title	The Sea Is the Haenyeo’s Tears바다는 해녀의 눈물
Date	2003

Short commentary

The blue sea endures until it fades yellow. The sea becomes the tears of the haenyeo.

Artwork text · poem

Text by Byun Joung Hoon

The blue sea
is the sea of young days.
But the sea that has long endured
fades into a yellowed color.
Dried by the sun,
worn by the wind,
holding even human sorrow,
the sea at last
becomes this color.
Having long received weeping,
it becomes, in the end, a dried color.
The sea sways,
the haenyeo curls her body.
The two are not apart.
No one sees
the tears shed underwater.
The sea has only
taken on their color instead.
The sea
is the haenyeo’s tears.
Today, too, that sea
holds the island.