poem for today - Two Poems on Fishing (Kwon Homun 1532-1587)
Two Poems on Fishing
Should I go drinking and wenching?
Oh, no. It isn't proper for the poet that I am.
Shall I go hunting wealth and honor?
I am not inclined that way either.
Well, let me be a fisherman or shepherd
and enjoy myself on the reedy shore.
When it stops raining at the fishing site
I will use green-moss for bait.
With no idea of catching the fish
I will enjoy watching them at play.
A slice of moon passes as it casts a silver line
onto the green stream below.
"Two Poems on Fishing"
by Kwon Homun (1532-1587)
translation by Jaihiun Kim
from The Art of Angling
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