YEH NAI-TSI'S SONG AS KOREAN SIJO
Ego banished,
ignorance shed, there stands revealed, a
world of woe.
Reaching out, with compassion, we covet naught,
fear no evil.
Deflecting hate, reflecting love, all we hear is
music
sweet.
Caught
between the
dominating worlds of China and Japan the Korean culture finds peace in
paradox. Thus the structure of the sijo constrains the content to
statement (3,4,4,4) counterstatement (3,4,4,4) elaboration (3,5)
and pointed paradox (4,3). This form does not permit the
translation of nuance contained in Yeh Nai Tsi's poem but
highlights the distillation and identification of the Ying and Yang
structure which undergirds all Chinese poetry and philosophy.
How clearly and succinctly this translation sends the message that
with wisdom, knowledge and diligence, love can triumph over
wrong.
We have now seen the romantic flavor of our core poem in
the sonnet. We have seen the
harmonization with the faith hope and love of PAUL'S PSALM . We now can see the closing of the ring which links love to
survival in that fundamental and basic survival nursery rhyme form
the 'Jack and Jill'.