Kim Seung-jong's Literary Miscellany (171) 'Holding a Rose in Both Hands and Praying'

There are poems with no special embellishments, metaphors, or grammatical constructions, yet they make readers feel as if the impression arose from themselves rather than from the poem. Is this because the recipient can transform into an active role in that engagement? I encountered such a rare occurrence in a poem I found through the KakaoTalk chat room of the Ku Sang Memorial Project Society.

May 12, 2004

Gangnam St. Mary's Hospital

In one corner of the entrance to Professor Ku Sang's funeral service

A monk's white rubber shoes

A farmer's work boots

And beside them, a crutch

The white rubber shoes came from Jirisan

The work boots with cracked soles came from Inje, Gangwon Province

The crutch worn smooth by hand marks—no one knows where it came from

After all the mourners left

Even at 2 a.m.

They sat there quietly, just as they were

— "Ink Painting" (2025)/Jeon Dong-gyun

This poem is composed of concise description and clear narration, yet its space is not confined to 'one corner of the funeral service.' The geographic scope extends southward to 'Jirisan' and northward to 'Inje, Gangwon Province' in an instant, and an expansion of the unknowable is achieved through 'the crutch worn smooth by hand marks—no one knows where it came from.' This seemingly natural progression is not some incidental addition that happened by chance. The poet sought to reveal the late professor's great virtue, and this effect resulted from his skillful attempt at related imagery. In other words, even if the 'white rubber shoes' came from 'Jirisan,' the fact that the 'work boots' came from the opposite side, 'Inje,' is not a coincidental parallelism but a deliberate choice made by the poet according to his intention. Moreover, the two pairs of shoes are useful and familiar symbols that well suggest the owner's status and occupation.

In truth, this is a poem that requires no explanation, but I would add one more comment while acknowledging its unnecessariness: in the final stanza, 'After all the mourners left / Even at 2 a.m. / They sat there quietly, just as they were,' I propose that we pay closer attention once more to '2 a.m.' as the final temporal marker in the poem. By confirming 'May 12, 2004' in the first line of the first stanza—which initially seemed like an excessive detail in the poem—as an essential element, isn't this a thoughtful concretization of time to match this poem's space? Furthermore, it allows readers to become conscious of the first-person observer-narrator of this poem as a recorder, following 'no one knows where it came from' in the third line of the second stanza. The final stanza is also indispensable in this poem honoring the late professor's virtue. Moreover, only after reading the final stanza are we able to truly see, to envision, that scene of the funeral altar. We can associate with it.

In particular, upon imagining the owner of the 'crutch worn smooth by hand marks,' I opened Professor Ku Sang's collected poems and searched for and read poems related to people with disabilities.

Whenever I go to Myeongdong Cathedral on Sundays

A friend sits there

With an alms box placed in front,

His entire body twisted by cerebral palsy.

It's been about five years

Since he started appearing there,

And between him and me,

We've become so familiar and intimate

That whenever I climb the hill,

He lets out a sound from his twisted tongue

From afar, as if scolding me.

But lately, this friend

Has become even more actively affectionate in our friendship,

Last week he handed me a bottle of juice,

And today he was holding a single rose,

Which he gave me with his twisted arm and bent hand.

Not knowing how to reciprocate such profound friendship,

I enter the cathedral feeling embarrassed,

As if I had been caught off guard,

And sit down abruptly.

Soon I kneel on the prie-dieu

And holding the rose in both my hands, I pray.

God! In Your eternal garden,

May he and I, like caterpillars shedding our old skin,

Become butterflies and fly together!

— "A Friend"/Ku Sang

How could they have become 'friends' from their first meeting 'five years ago' on the street? Yet after reading the second stanza, we can acknowledge the interesting and unusual 'friendship' between the two. But to the professor's 'bottle of juice,' this 'friend' presents nothing less than a 'rose.' The professor said he did 'not know how to reciprocate such profound friendship,' but might he not have felt burdened and embarrassed by the 'rose,' which even to onlookers might evoke romantic sentiment? This circumstance seems to align with what follows: 'I enter the cathedral feeling embarrassed, / As if I had been caught off guard, / And sit down abruptly.'

However, the professor observes the situation just before 'soon' and his own state, and 'holding the rose in both my hands, prays.' We are curious about the content of the prayer, but we are relieved on the professor's behalf by the fact that he did not discard the 'rose.' [We can discard things in an appropriate place if we feel awkward and ashamed]. Furthermore, we are elevated. It is not 'holding the rose in both hands and praying,' but 'holding the rose in both my hands, I pray.' From this statement, we can also infer that just before the professor 'kneels on the prie-dieu,' he has already decided on the words of his prayer, calling both himself and his 'friend' 'caterpillars,' and asking that they both become 'butterflies' and 'fly together.'