Statue of David

The claim that I was rescued from inside a rock
is nonsense....

Statue of David

Poem by Lee Yongha


The claim that I was rescued from inside a rock
is nonsense.
I entered this world
through my mother’s burning womb.
Crawling across the earth, I reached my place
and lived as one with nature.

I breathe once every thousand years.
I speak a single word every ten thousand.
I am unlike you.
I had a face of stone
and a body fused with the ground.

They dragged me away.
They cut off my flesh
and ground my bones to dust.
My heart bore the shape of a human.
That was my misfortune—
that someone recognized it.

When you stand before me
and your chest begins to race,
You feel the heartbeat of a rock—
one that pulses once every million years.

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(Original)

다비드상

이용하

 

  바위 속에 갇혀있던 나를 구출해주었다는 말은 엉터리야. 나는 어머니의 뜨거운 자궁 속에서 세상에 나왔지. 대지를 기어가다가 내 자리에 이르러서 자연과 하나가 되어 살았지. 나는 천 년에 한 번 숨을 쉬고 만 년에 한 마디 말을 하지. 인간과는 생김새가 다르고 생각도 다르지만 내게도 바위다운 얼굴이 있었고 대지와 한 몸이 된 몸뚱이도 있었지. 그런 나를 끌어다가 살점을 쪼아내고 통뼈를 갈아냈지. 내 심장이, 인간을 닮았다는 이유로. 그걸 알아본 자가 있었다는 게 불운이었지. 나를 볼 때 네 가슴이 두근대는 것은, 백만 년에 한 번 뛰는 바위의 심장고동을 느꼈기 때문이야.

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© 2026 Lee Yongha. All rights reserved. Original Korean poem: 다비드상 (Statue of David) by Poet Lee Yongha (이용하). AI-assisted translation, reviewed and revised by the author. Digital illustration created in collaboration with Gemini AI.
  
English translation published here is a draft version. Final version may differ in future publications.