<< Index  Next  >>

 

엿보기

 

35도를 오르내리는 복더위 한낮

아파트 앞동 7 거실 마루에

슈미즈바람의 젊은 여인네가

다리를 뻗고 퍼질러 앉아서

수박을 통째 숟갈로 파먹고 있다.

 

뒤채 11 베란다 망사창에서

수염을 늙은이가

이를 바라보면서 군침을 삼킨다.

 

한참만에 먹기를 끝낸 여인네가

이번에는 손으로 슈미즈자락을 쳐들고

손으로 아랫도리에 부채질을 한다.

 

이를 바라보던 뒤채 늙은이는

눈을 한번 감았다 뜨고는

들었던 부채를 소리나게 부치며

돌아서 방으로 들어서니

한산(寒山) 습득(拾得)* 조상(彫傷) 깔깔댄다.

 

이윽고 베란다에 또다시 나선

늙은이 눈에 비친 앞에 풍경은

옷을 바꿔 입은 여인네가 무릎을 꿇고

어떤 사내와 단정히 마주 앉아 있다.

 

실망한 돌아서는 뒤채 늙은이는

여자들은 카멜레온이야.

하고 중얼거리며 도로 방으로 들자

스님이 더욱 깔깔 낄낄댄다.

Stolen glances

A midsummer day at noon
the temperature is hovering around thirty-five;
Sprawled on the wooden floor of the living-room
of a flat on the 7th floor of the block in front
a young woman clad in a light chemise,
her legs stretched out in front of her,
is delving into a water-melon with spoon and knife
and devouring it.

Behind a mesh-window
up on the veranda on the 11th floor of the block behind
an old man with a white beard
feels his mouth watering at the sight of it all.

After a while, having finished eating,
she lifts the hem of her chemise with one hand
and fans herself with the other.

The old man on the veranda, seeing this,
slowly blinks once, then turns and goes back into his room,
fanning himself audibly with the fan he is carrying:
the statues of Han-shan and Shih-te roar with laughter.

A little later, when the old man returns to the veranda,
what meets his gaze across the way?
The young woman has changed her dress and is kneeling
very decorously opposite some gentleman.

Turning as if disappointed, the old man of the veranda
retreats again to his room, muttering
'What chameleons women are!'
and the two monks titter and giggle more than ever.
 

Note: Han-shan and Shih-te: two Chinese Zen monks of the 7th century Tang Dynasty. Famous 'monastery fools,' they are traditionally shown in fits of uncontrolled laughter.