There once was a woman from Seoul
Who swallowed an octopus whole:
     It swam in her belly
     With fishes of jelly,
Then plopped in a porcelain bowl.

the water lapped about my waist,
the coolness stung my skin.
I sat upright on the shore, eyes closed,
my body taking in the feeling.

I felt the sand seep around me,
stick to my limbs and cling to me.
I focused on my breathing and my heartbeat,
I listened closely to the noise that surrounded.

I heard the waves hit the bank,
I flinched at the occasional siren, and prayed for the safety of those it aided.
I counted car horns and footsteps.
I tuned out any voice in my head.

Becoming one with the river,
forming as one into the earth,
I sat still on the banks of the water,
in a city where the river ran through it.

There was a time
when I blocked my face
with two palms,
only to avoid seeing the world.
But the two palms can only block
the world in my eyes,
not the world in my heart.
The world in my heart
is always too big
to be blocked by the palms.
Especially when there is you in it.

You...
smiling and offering the love
that reminds me
to the most delicious
Korean persimmons
in Autumn season.

(Now I start to feel that without you,
Seoul is nothing but an empty city,
and the world is nothing but an empty place).

-Kanya Puspokusumo-
http://doeniadevi.wordpress.com

it was
all too easy,
forgetting your name,
tasting the starlight tucked
behind someone else's
wisdom teeth,
our soju-laced smiles
crashing at 90mph
and the memory of you
caught  
in the headlights and wreckage,
our 2am laughter
echoing in your bones
from 5654 miles away,
my hands knowing
the age-old roads
that led to brand new places,
and the faded map of you
folded and kept hastily
in my back pocket.

*(I was far too proud
to ask for directions
to come home)

I am so old, As old as the Eastern sea,

My second Home Daehan Min-guk...You are
so far away in years and miles.

I try and try to learn to speak my ancestor's
tongue. I fail to hear you say, please come to me!

Why can't I just travel to meet my home,
Of my past. Where I belong!

Why was I cursed to be born?
In the wrong place and time.

I am so old, As old as the Eastern sea,

My broken heart
Is stopping me from
Holding you in my arms,

From touching you
From kissing you.

I am so old, As old as the Eastern sea,

My Korea!

Should I just die,
and hope!
My next life will bring me back home,
Back into your arms where I belong,

I miss you so much!
I would rather be a poor farmer,
In the land of Dae Han Min-guk....
Then a lonely old man in
Living in this land far to the West...

I dream of you every night,
I love you Korea...

Should I just take a chance
of flying to my home of my past.

Will it be worth being buried
at Yanghwajin,

Just, to see,
the face of my Seoul?

I am so old, as old as the Eastern sea,
My love Korea...

What should I do?

(c) 2014 Ronald J Chapman All Rights Reserved.

My home in my dreams,

I am amazed every night, when I see you in my dreams.

When I look at the moon., I see the tower to the north.

I can not believe you changed,
My life forever.

I only wish I can find the courage, to hold you in my arms at last.

My home in my dreams,
I wish I had met you a lifetime ago.

I wish I could give you one thousand of
my lifetimes.

I owe you my life,
My Seoul Korea.

I love you.

I miss you.

I owe you my life,
I owe you. You are the reason I am still alive,
Arirang, I owe you more than ever!

Seoul I love you,
A place I have only been to in my dreams,

How can I ever repay you?
For sending me such beautiful dreams.

I am amazed every night, when I see you in my dreams.

I live for you every day to hold you in my arms,

I live for you!
My Seoul,

I wish I could be standing in your arms where I belong.

My love Seoul,
I can't help but smile and wonder why God sent me here far to the West.

When you tell me every day, I belong in your arms.

But I owe you so much,
Hundreds of poems,

Hundreds of dreams
from a place, I have never been.

Amazing!
How can this be?

I love you Seoul Korea
that time can never take away.

I owe you more than my life
More than anything
I know this is a dept that I will never be able to repay.
Because I owe you so much
I owe you my life now, more than ever,

Why was I born so far away?

In the wrong time and wrong place?

Seoul Korea

My home in my dreams.


(C) 2014 Ronald J Chapman All Rights Reserved.