Cherry Blossom - Park Seonghwa (an alternative translation and language analysis)
Cherry Blossom Beneath two people who promised a lifetime together on October 23rd, and further down, Amidst the blooming flowers of cherry blossom season, on April 3rd A sole, small life sprouted That life is another year older That year piles on, to twenty-nine In dazzling, illustrious moments In stumbling, precarious times In the resolute goodbye with which I bid my old self farewell In the touch that warmly caresses my hand In your love that gives me the world; in that heart All those feelings, coalesced Allowed me to bloom Allowed me to flourish A single cherry blossom this beautiful In all its redolence and beauty Is a small miracle you have brought to fruition
Once I saw this poem I immediately knew I wanted to take a shot at translating it myself. The translation I have seen floating around isn't bad by any means, but poetry is an interesting and extremely difficult matter in translation because you're not just translating language; you're trying to convey the tone, mood, rhythm/sound, lyricism, and technique while maintaining its readability and coherence in the target language. It also doesn't help here that Korean is a syllable-timed language rather than a stress-timed language like English, meaning things like meter and rhyme schemes you analyse in English-language poetry is meaningless here. Translating it so it flows in a similarly ballad-esque way in English was my first priority, and keeping its wistful, romantic tone was my second. Hopefully I succeeded in both!
it took me a good 6-7 hours to even get this to a place I am happy with, and I cannot translate it without a rambling rundown until everyone here appreciates this as much as I do, because Seonghwa is an incredible writer and his language choices here left me in a state of awe!
usual disclaimer: I am not a native speaker! I am almost entirely self taught but I have been learning Korean for the last 14 years and have done a LOT of research for this. I am also a poetry enthusiast, a language and linguistics student who was previously studying comparative lit and took poetry analysis modules as part of it, and a hopeless romantic the way Seonghwa appears to be, lol. Any corrections are welcome as per. Absolutely massive thanks to @chaoticeddie for reading my translations as I went and providing feedback on the sounds and language choices; thanks to them my translation is way nicer sounding than it initially was and I owe them my whole life I think? <3 ++ thank you to @heungversion and @mulletjoong for reading over my translation and giving their input! ily all sm <33 hoping Tumblr doesn't screw up the formatting again pls and ty...
EDIT: Since i speak so much about rhythm and flow and how beautiful this poem SOUNDS in this post I decided to add this audio of me reading the Korean version for those that don't read Hangul. I'm admittedly a little self conscious about it but if it can help anyone understand my translation a little better on the sound front then it's worth it! Again, not a native speaker, and my inflection is probably a little weird at times which was to reflect his specific language use (like the inflection on "하나"). I have nowhere near Seonghwa's gentle ASMR lilt but I tried my best. Also... transmasc... so no one comment on my voice unless you're telling me how sexy and masculine I sound thanks lmao <3
Going verse by verse:
10월 23일 평생을 약속한 두 사람 아래 그리고 더 아래 4월 3일 벚꽃이 만개하는 계절에 피어나는 꽃들 그 사이에
October 23rd is Seonghwa's parents' wedding anniversary (he said himself in a live when talking about this poem), which is what the lifelong commitment here is referencing. 벚꽃이 만개하는 계절에 literally translates to "in the season during which the cherry blossoms are in full bloom", which I simplified to "cherry blossom season". 피어나다 is the passive form of the verb meaning "to bloom", which puts the emphasis on the natural order of the world.
One theme that comes up a lot in the language choices of this poem is the fleeting/temporal nature of life and this beauty, as well as the natural world as a reflection of the self, so this feels important to mention. Peak cherry blossom season only lasts around 5-7 days in any given location in Korea once they hit full bloom, so this specific small window of time feels like a reinforcement of the miracle mentioned in the final verse. For the most part though, their importance is in their reflection of transience, of the ephemeral nature of youth and life, and they are also frequently associated with new beginnings (as is the broader theme of spring; this is not exclusive to Korean poetry haha)
'그 사이에' can mean either "between" or "meanwhile"; when referring to time it refers to "in the interim" and emphasises temporality also, which felt most fitting here. However that flowed awkwardly in English so I went with "amidst".
싹을 틔운 작은 생명 하나 그 생명이 또 나이를 하나 그 하나가 쌓여 스물아홉
This verse is especially lyrical at 10 syllables per line and the symmetry in the rhyme is mirrored in the language; the first line ends with 생명 하나, the second repeats 그 생명 and likewise ends with 하나, and the final line begins with 그 하나 again. Meaning "that one", it emphasises singularity (which is funny to me to say he has an older brother...), however 하나/hana is also Japanese for "flower" (the same hanja in Korean is pronounced "hwa", which I am sure is not coincidental) which in a poem about cherry blossoms feels like it could be purposeful! I tried to reflect this symmetry in my translation, too.
I struggled a little with how to word the last line, as it very literally translates to "that one piles up, twenty-nine". The way he phrased "gaining an extra year" is also not how one would express it in spoken language (usually you say you "ate a year", interestingly) so to me it conjures up both the image of flower petals stacking up (given the potential dual meaning of "hana") but also the years accumulating in the pile; it implies a kind of deep wisdom that accumulates alongside those years. The form of "(to) sprout" is causative, meaning something has caused it to sprout (implying the promise between the two people).
~하나 is also the Korean sentence ending for musing sentences where you are wondering something to yourself, performing reflection/contemplation, asking yourself a rhetorical question. While not how it's being used here necessarily, that kind of contemplative vibe is so present in the poem it also felt like something he may have thought of. Especially in the second line, were it being used this way it has a sort of melancholy or puzzled vibe to it, like "ah, another year has already passed?"
눈부시게 빛나는 순간에 비틀거리며 위태로운 시절에 스스로와의 작별을 다짐한 안녕에
Splitting the next verse into two as I have a lot to say about it! 눈부시게 means "brilliantly" and 빛나는 means "shining". While the former is the adverbial form it modifies 빛나는 which in turn modifies 순간에; a more literal translation would be "in dazzlingly shining moments", or "in moments that shined brilliantly". Similarly, 비틀거리며 means "stumbling", with 거리(다) meaning an action that is happening repeatedly and 며 being a connective ending meaning actions are happening simultaneously. 위태로운 means precarious as in "in the balance"; something that is at risk, hanging by a thread, at stake. While these times are at stake, he's stumbling along, messing up, learning as he goes. They're so incredibly contrasted I chose to structure them similarly, especially because I didn't want to bulk up such snappy lines with a bunch of English grammatical context words :') But an alternative translation I considered is "In moments that shined dazzlingly / Stumbling in perilous times".
시절 is usually translated as "days" though, and is used in phrases like "school days" or "back in the day". The use of 비틀거리며 with it is especially evocative, describing a youth full of hardships and uncertainty through which he stumbled and kept losing his balance, over and over again. However, given its usage with 시절 we know it's firmly in the past, as backed up by the next line, which took me the longest to translate despite it being 4 "words" because of its interesting grammar. Images of fleeting time and long-gone memories are recurrent here, but these times, however long ago they feel, were clearly foundational to his growth.
스스로와의 is an interesting way of saying "with oneself", and the combination of 와의 is very poetic and doesn't tend to appear in regular spoken Korean. It simultaneously emphasises an intimacy and connection with himself but also a distance; he has a love for the him he was but he has resolved to leave him in the past and absolutely must stick to that decision for his own growth. The whole line has a strong feeling of turning over a new leaf; it's very self-aware. This alongside the usage of both 작별을 (farewell) and 안녕 (goodbye) together gives a profoundly sad feeling; it's very literary and heavy and emphasises the finality of the goodbye, the knowledge he had to let himself go. I put the word "old" in there where it was implied in the original text, a word choice I made deliberately given the theme of aging and growing.
다짐한 refers to resolutions as in the ones you may make at New Year, and I deliberated between using "determined" instead of "resolute" before deciding "resolute" fit the wistful tone better. Regardless of the many ways I wanted to translate it the meaning is the same; he told himself he must say goodbye to himself, and then did.
따스히 내 손을 어루만지는 손길에 세상을 내게 준다는 당신의 사랑에 그 마음에
따스히 is a more poetic, soft, and sentimental way of saying "warm" (if you're saying the weather is warm you would say 따뜻해), which paired with the word 어루만지 meaning "to stroke/caress" and 손길 which is a specific way of referring to touch meaning either "a helping hand" or a gentle touch (a hand that is held, brushed, extended); altogether this line is a rush of warmth, a blanket cocoon after the sudden sadness of the previous line. We barely even get to feel the sadness of departure as he is being soothed through it immediately. 내 is the first time he directly addresses himself; until now the poem has been third person and very detached. Now he has left himself we get the first person pronoun which feels paradoxical but also doesn't; he had to struggle and leave to find himself. The three lines above felt harsh, disorienting, dizzying; even in the bright moments they were so dazzling and blinding it was hard to gain your balance. They're unique in the wider sense of the poem as this soft, gentle tone is what is embodied in the rest of it. We only had a glimpse of tumult to make the softness all the more palpable.
세상을 내게 준다는 is also extremely romantic. From these two lines the poem starts to read like a love letter, a sonnet almost. It conveys absolute trust and commitment and that the person whose love gives him the world is the most precious to him. 당신의, despite being machine translators like GT and Papago's favourite second person pronoun to throw into their overly literal Eng-Kor translations, is mostly used in Korean in poetry and between long-term married couples (or if you're trying to fight someone a la "you wanna take this outside" lmao). It's a very poetic and literary way to address the listener; he has been saved and he is not leaving any ambiguity as to who the parties involved are anymore. Finishing with 그 마음에 adds emphasis but it also leads beautifully into the next verse:
그 모든 마음이 모여 나를 피어나게 하였다 나를 자라나게 하였다
Repeating it with 모든 (all) at the beginning of the next verse made it a little difficult to translate as 마음 can be translated as either "heart" or "feeling". Heart isn't meant in the physical sense, rather, it is the spiritual heart, so somewhat synonymous with feelings. I think it's purposeful that this line has two meanings; the way I translated it, "all these feelings, coalesced" but also "all these hearts, gathered [together]". In the same live I mentioned above, Seonghwa said:
I don't think I'm living well now just because I'm good at it; I think that all the people around me - my family, friends, our members, ATINY, the company staff - have made me who I am today. Since they are all good people, I wrote it [this poem] with those feelings in mind.
While all those feelings have coalesced the hearts of all those people around him have also gathered together and left little bits of themselves within him, imbued him with millions of souls.
~게 is the causative particle, meaning it can be translated as "made" or "let/allowed me to"; Korean doesn't make a distinction between them in this case. You could very literally translate it as "caused me to bloom". He brings the poem full circle here; the word 자라나게 is a very interesting and deliberate choice because while it technically translates to "grow [up]" it can also translate to "sprout [up]"; 나다 refers to something appearing from nowhere/erupting/coming out/emerging, therefore 자라나다 is often used for things like hair and plants sprouting up and growing.
I chose the word flourish so the botanical meaning stuck more and because it felt it fit with the overall language better, however I wanted to draw attention to the fact he looped back to that sprout in the beginning, though now he is blooming (notice the same word used on the flowers he sprouted amidst; he has now joined them) having received the tender love of so many around him who simply wanted to see and help him grow and thrive (which is another word I considered using). I chose "allowed" over "made" because as sweet as it is that he attributes his kindness and success and goodness to the love and support he is surrounded by, I don't want to completely remove his agency and role in his growth; he had to go through those hard times and still persevered and stayed kind regardless - he deserves credit for that too!
이토록 아름다운 벚꽃 하나 그 모든 향기와 아름다움 당신이 이뤄낸 작은 기적이라는 걸
이토록 means "this" or "so" meaning "to this extent". It's once again very poetic language but it emphasises one cherry blossom this beautiful. I originally played around with other definitions like "lovely", "gorgeous", and "marvellous", but his repetition and looping back to concepts in this very cyclical poem have been purposeful and feels to me a little like it reflects the cycle of life, so I kept "beauty/beautiful" in both lines. I chose "redolence" both to represent how poetic his language is, and because redolence has the specific implication of a scent that brings lingering memories, of warm nostalgia, which I felt fit the tone of the poem.
The last line also brought a little difficulty; the literal translation of 이뤄낸 is "achieved" or "realised". The nuance to it is like a dream has been achieved and, to my knowledge, it isn't generally used when you have achieved your own goals but instead emphasises a group effort; again he gives those around him, addressed in that poetic sweet way once more, credit for achieving a miracle. I almost went with "realised" or "actualised" but "brought to fruition" seemed to fit the flow and rhythm of the original a little better and also works with the plant related imagery and language.
The ending 걸 is incomplete and leaves the poem on a lingering, emotional fact, as if inviting the reader to sit with it as he will sit with it too. It could also be a softened realisation, or surprise that the listener doesn't already know this glaring, obvious truth. Despite it being an incomplete thought (as 걸 is an example of ellipsis in Korean), because of the sentimental, wistful mood to the entire thing it still feels complete as it is so tonally consistent. 이라는 걸 roughly translates to "this thing called", and an alternative translation I considered was "Can only be described as a small miracle you have brought to fruition", which ultimately felt too long but captures that grammar correctly. He's giving it a name; this poem contains a lot of longing and poetic ambiguity but he makes sure the really important things get the emphasis they need.
I'm probably gonna remember other shit I wanted to add to this and kick myself for not doing so later on but it's 9am, I started writing this up at midnight, and I have been working on this translation for multiple days now, plus I think it's already long enough so I shall be ending it here. If you can read Hangul I would recommend you read the Korean and my translation aloud to get a feel for how the sounds move and interact with each other, and see if you can feel just how sweet and wistful this entire thing is because it felt like I was being rocked in a cradle or smth?? It's so beautifully written and I am a parasocial little hwafreak. I am interested in doing similar translations and analyses of the other poems he's shared in the past if anyone is interested? Idk lmk what you think and/or cry about Seonghwa and how perfect he is with me, I refuse to suffer this alone :') if you read all of this yapfest thank you as always! <3
edited this to add an audio recording of me reading the original Korean version for those who cannot read Hangul since I speak so much about sound and rhythm in this, so you can compare it with the sound and feel of my English translation and hopefully see what I was trying to do! or just so you can feel how gentle and romantic the original sounds because it's so, SO pretty :') ty all for the lovely tags and feedback on this, I love it here sm and I love... Park Seonghwa 😭
