Annyeong

"Annyeong" is a strange word.
It is said to one who leaves,
and to one we meet again.
So within this single word,
parting and return
are held together.
The wish to go well,
and the wish to come back safely.
People and trees alike
hold those two wishes in one hand
and wave toward where the boat disappears.
Annyeong.
The shortest greeting:
not holding back,
and yet not forgetting.
That urgent moment of the waving hand
the painter, too, received with an urgent brush,
as if the moment of farewell
had to be caught before it passed.
The speed at which the grass lies down in the wind
and the speed at which the brush moves across the paper
become one.