A Memory - Yi Chongbo

I'll never forget the boy
who slept here last night.
He could be the son of a tilemaker, the way clay yields
Or the scion of a mole, the way
he burrows and thrusts, or perhaps the stripling
of a seaman, the way the oar answers his pulse
His first experience, he avows, a claim that raises
certain doubts.
I've had my share before
and I'll assume I'll have some more, but the memory of that
boy last night is a pleasure I shall always store.

---

Yi Chongbo (1693 - 1766) Korea
Translated by Kevin O'Rourke