Put out your tongue.
I’ll give you a lump of sugar.
Every time something reaches your soft stomach from enamel teeth
a process of transformation is required
in order to maximize its nutritional value,
to make everything one.
Standing before a man selling ice-cream,
childrens’ tongues burn coldly
and everyone feels afraid
if they stop to wonder
why animals’ teeth are so hard.
On the tongue
lozenges become round,
the tooth you once loved suddenly adopts an unfamiliar expression,
laughs, weeps, the sun sets.
Between all yesterday’s things
and all today’s things,
things sweet and fearful
are born on the tongue.
Sugar lumps.
Blazing sugar lumps.
Now put out your long tongue,
its roots extending down through your body,
red, moist,
your tongue.
Lee Jang-wook (born 1986) South Korea
Translated by Brother Anthony
Source: Translations by Brother Anthony, of Taizé
I’ll give you a lump of sugar.
Every time something reaches your soft stomach from enamel teeth
a process of transformation is required
in order to maximize its nutritional value,
to make everything one.
Standing before a man selling ice-cream,
childrens’ tongues burn coldly
and everyone feels afraid
if they stop to wonder
why animals’ teeth are so hard.
On the tongue
lozenges become round,
the tooth you once loved suddenly adopts an unfamiliar expression,
laughs, weeps, the sun sets.
Between all yesterday’s things
and all today’s things,
things sweet and fearful
are born on the tongue.
Sugar lumps.
Blazing sugar lumps.
Now put out your long tongue,
its roots extending down through your body,
red, moist,
your tongue.
Lee Jang-wook (born 1986) South Korea
Translated by Brother Anthony
Source: Translations by Brother Anthony, of Taizé
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