After you're gone Poem by Kim Hyesoon

- Day Six

After you're gone don't leave don't
After you've come don't come don't

When you depart they close your eyes, put your hands together and cry don't go
don't go
When you're pressed up against the window like a cat and say open the door open the
door, they say don't come don't come

They glue a paper doll onto a bamboo stick and say don't come don't come
They throw your clothes into the fire and say don't come don't come

That's why you're footless
wingless

yet all you do is fly
unable to land

you're visible even when you hide
you know everything even without a brain

you feel so cold even without a body

That's why this morning your nightgown hiding under the bed
is sobbing quietly all alone

Water collects in your coffin
You've already left the coffin

Your head's imprint on the moon pillow
Your body's imprint on the cloud cover

So after you're gone don't go don't
So after you've come don't come don't