Chairperson Kim Sun Hyang of the University of North Korean Studies has released The Day, the Flower: Verse Diary 3, the third book of poetry in her Verse Diary series. The book encapsulates special moments, memories, and her day-to day life. Like the line “In the same brook none ever bathed him twice,” from Edward Young’s Night-Thoughts, the third book features 56 poems that reflect, with a seasoned perspective, on eternity and ephemerality, the transience of life, and the deep thoughts of precious things. In the form of a verse diary, this series candidly portrays fleeting moments captured, cherished encounters remembered, and simple stories told about the poet and her family.
-An Introduction to Kim Sun Hyang’s Verse Diary Series
Published in 2012, Verse Diary: 1998~2012, the first book in the series, contains 100 poems. It tenderly expresses her special love for her children and her late mother. The book also includes a vivid, nearly 100-line depiction of accompanying her husband, former Minister of Unification Park Jae Kyu, to an awards ceremony in France, where he received the first ever Conflict Prevention Prize by the Chirac Foundation.
Published in 2021, Golden Rose: Verse Diary 2, the second book in the series, explores timeless sentiments through the paradox of loving artificial flowers, lifeless yet unfading, thereby transcending the constraints of time. Poems such as “A Boy I’ve Never Met,” “The Golden Rose He Handed Me,” and “A Red Soap Rose Sent by a Friend” portray what transcends time. Through the singing of the timeless beauty that remains even as time passes, she brings readers beyond the poetry collection to a sentiment where they genuinely want to stay.
-Book Three: The Day, the Flower: Verse Diary 3
Following her earlier works, The Day, the Flower blooms as a feast of graceful language, reflecting her musings on the world.
A verse diary captivates readers in two ways. First, it shines with the precision of language that only verse, not prose, can achieve. Second, the diary’s grounding in day-to-day life imbues it with a relatable power. Few formats are as fitting for recording fleeting moments that accumulate during one’s time. Readers feel as if they are sharing long conversations with the poet over tea or while strolling on paths of blooming/withering flowers, guided only by the detailed dates of the poems.
The poems of this third book in the series exquisitely embody the aesthetics of blossoming. Flowers bloom with each season, and familiar daily paths transform. One day the path is adorned with verdant leaves and another day blanketed in pure white snow, each separate day’s beauty invigorating the poet anew. The delight brought by the melody of beautiful music is also a ray of light for the poet, piercing through the monotony of daily life. While these moments may seem like trivial traces of time, to the poet’s heightened sensibility, they are vibrant expressions of life’s force.
Selections in the book also poignantly portray the aesthetics of fading. The poet’s diary brims with “language of reflection” born during “sleepless nights.” It laments loved ones swept away by time, as well as the indifference of sunsets that disappear “without even a farewell.” Such sentiments reflect the bittersweet reality we all endure, the ache of things disappearing. Yet, like the sun setting over the sea or petals falling from a flower, what fades is as beautiful as what blossoms. Through her verses, she masterfully captures this paradox, celebrating the beauty of what vanishes. The dimming of memories with time and the elusive names that linger on the tip of the tongue speak of the intimate push and pull between people and time.
The third book also quietly conveys the aesthetics of endurance. Pain, a constant presence that seems to have become a part of the poet’s body, and the gusty winds that hinder daily walks serve as reminders that life must often be endured. Gray hairs sprout like uninvited guests, and the irreplaceable present flows inexorably toward the “unseeable future.” The poet observes that “the unspeakable” often silences us. Yet, despite these challenges, she walks against the wind, shakes off pain as if it were never there, and soothes her “dry eyes” with artificial tears. Through these simple acts of resilience, her insights provide a pillar of strength as profound as those offered by grand philosophies or religions, empowering readers to live another day.
Underlying the aesthetics of blossoming, fading, and endurance is the poet’s deep affection for people and the world. From the heartfelt intention behind a gift to the laughter of children captured in a photograph sent from a distant land, and to the poignant stories of family reunions she has long supported, each encapsulates its own history, filling the poet’s present with richness. While enduring the sorrow of fading things, she celebrates the beauty of what blossoms, leaving readers eagerly anticipating her next diary. For “The Day, the Flower” blooming in the “heart’s eye” of the poet will never fade, even amid the passage of time.
(Commentary by Lee Mi-sun, Professor at the Department of English Education; Source by Lee Do-gyun, reporter at Kyungnamenanews)
-Poems to Share from The Day, the Flower: Verse Diary 3
<The Day, the Flower>
Not the fl owers That bloom and fade But the fl ower in bloom always Let us go and see The day When I fi rst beheld the fl ower It came within my heart Even in the blowing wind It will never fall Blooming in my heart's eye The day, the fl ower -March 14, 2022 Upon seeing a pink hydrangea gifted on White Day-
<And Tomorrow>
Yesterday, a past that surely existed Though vanished Lives on in my memory
Today, with unparalleled will I strive to carry out Delightful plans
Time fl ows endlessly forward
But is time truly fl owing? Or is it I who cannot stand still?
In the fl eeting moment When today turns to yesterday I refl ect Tomorrow, yet to arrive Still awaits me
As I hold fast the strength of memory I shall write today And tomorrow, I shall remember again -July 1, 2024-
