FŪDO 077 · 1978 · Early Jeju · poem

The Returning Boat

귀선

Basic information

Identifier	FŪDO 077
Title	The Returning Boat귀선
Date	1978

Short commentary

To return is not to restore the time before departure, but to understand at last the meaning of the place left behind.

Artwork text · poem

Text by Byun Joung Hoon

The sea lies low,
pale in the color of the soil.
Above the horizon,
a small boat returns.
To return
is not to go back to the time before leaving.
After passing through wind and waves,
it is to know, at last,
the meaning of the place one left.
Only after leaving
can one see that place.
A boat’s return is not the business of a boat;
it is a being
reaching itself again.
Aboard that boat
are all those
who go far away and return.