[One Thousand Characters a Day] Oh Jang-hwan's 'Song of the Dark Night'

Editor's NotePoet Oh Jang-hwan began his full-fledged poetic activities in 1936 by joining the ＜Siinburak (Poets' Village)＞ collective along with Seo Jeong-ju, Kim Dong-ri, Yeo Sang-hyeon, and Ham Hyeong-su. With a clear awareness of the realities of colonial society, he belonged to the life-wave and modernist factions of his time while also presenting a somewhat unique poetic world. In the period immediately following liberation, when ideological conflicts and confrontations intensified, he created socially engaged poems that praised a new world and criticized the corrupt. He was active in the Joseon Literary Alliance and defected to the North in 1946. Word count: 271.

Once again, I call out

The days gone by

Songs that gathered when we drank

In careless moments?

Ah, where have our young hearts that waited and longed for dreams gone?

Where is the new hometown we firmly embraced?

Now, even lying on a sickbed

Unable to endure any longer

I go out to drink

And get slapped by a fool

All the songs

I have called out!

Where is our new song?

From the rotten drunkard down to the lowest

You too struggle in the same rage,

Ah, we know it well

Then this is the song youth cries out?why do you hesitate?

- Oh Jang-hwan, ＜Song of the Dark Night＞