Han Min Ohn Poems

Year after year
Advance our age
Nearer and nearer
Are our graves
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One day on a beach I watched the setting sun
Feeling down and sore from life’s twists and turns
Saying goodbye to me with its job done
The sun quickly sank below the horizon to the west
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Unless observe but see, progress you will not be revealed
Unless listen but hear, true meaning you will not ear
Unless think but memorize, the truth you will not realize
Unless persuade but talk, dictate you will not
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When you realize that you have done something wrong
Remember that it is never too late to turn around
Just admit your false and apologize
Soundly you will be able to sleep at night
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A hungry man, unable to find a job
stole something to fill his stomach
Was arrested and labelled 'a thief'
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When you are totally hopeless, do not despair
Just close your eyes and calm yourself
Then imagine you have a pair of invincible wings
That will lift your hope up from the pit.
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Once upon a time there was a lovely puppet
Some nights on the stage it would beautifully dance
It would sing sweet songs and make people glad
On other nights, its face looked gloom and sad
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Trees all cut down, rivers all dried up
a skeleton sitting on a big heap
Made up of coins and money beneath
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A dollar for a rich fat man
Is nothing but a tiny fraction of his earn
A dollar for a poor hungry man
Is a reward he gets for his all-day long work plan
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If life gives you a thing of joy
Flow with it and happily enjoy
If life offers you a painful tragedy
Try removing it from your inner memory
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