FŪDO 047 · 2002 · Late Jeju · poem

Sea Village

해촌

Basic information

Identifier	FŪDO 047
Title	Sea Village해촌
Date	2002

Short commentary

One can leave because someone remains; one can return because someone keeps the place.

Artwork text · poem

Text by Byun Joung Hoon

On the left, a horse; on the right, an ox.
The horse is a creature of the wind,
the ox a creature of the earth.
The horse lifts its head and looks beyond the horizon,
the ox lowers its head and looks at the ground beneath its feet.
One is a life of leaving,
the other a life of staying.
The horse turns toward a place not yet come,
the ox keeps the place already given.
But
a village cannot live by leaving alone,
nor can life continue by staying alone.
Someone must go out to sea,
someone must keep the land to return to.
The horse moves toward possibility,
the ox takes on continuity.
A single sun rises equally over them both,
and a skiff
goes toward the side the horse is watching.
The ox, its head still lowered,
keeps the land where that boat will touch again.
Life
is not the choosing of one
between leaving and staying.
Only because someone stays can another leave,
only because someone keeps the place can another return.