Burn yourself out
don't burn by halves
burn and burn
till you turn to ashes
what use is
a halfburnt stump?

If you'd stop halfway
just don't start
stay unburnt
like greenwood
but if you're for burning
burn yourself out
burn all the way
burn to ashes

"Love" by Lee Un-sang (Rohsan), 1903-1982

Translation adapted from Master Sijo Poems From Korea, Classical and Modern,
selected and translated by Jaihiun Joyce Kim. Seoul: Si-sa-yong-o-sa Publishers, 1982

The background image on this page is of the Pyongyang skyline photographed at dawn. It is taken from the Korea Pictorial, published in the DPRK in 1990.