Farewell 1-2

A Farewell Ritual

2.

Then in a few minutes of silence the old man's monologue was followed the sound of Degumsanjo played by the young player accompanied by the other young man, Jangku drumer. Beginning with the jinyangjo, a part of sanjo, slow in tempo, the dark and windy sound of bamboo flute shakes quiet lonesomeness in which is the high ridge of the mountain away from the haunts of men. In a moment the vibrating sound of sanjo captivates the old man looking over toward the zone of the oak and azaleas . The soft beats of drumming gradually give changes to the rhythm of sanjo by the bamboo flute. As you know, the sanjo was born at the end of the 19th century as a suite for a solo instrument and a drum. More than any other genre, it embodies the Korean traditional music of today, The piece, in several parts, is performed as an impromptu: at first calm and meditative, the playing, as the tempo is getting faster, is more tensed and brilliant so that it brings a feeling of jubilation

The sound of sanjo music flows from the exit hole of the bamboo flute, spreading out with regular tempos and rhythm in the repetition of dispersing and gathering again. The sound, sometimes quivering and sometimes running slenderly, give pushes to air and pulls it , spreading along the path over the high ridge area wide and deep. The sound gets the old man's recollection to rekindle inside in his mind.

 

Anytime reaching the hill here

the oak tree shows up before me and the azaleas.

Grandma in her age of 20 years,

lying there

is wating for me in my age of mid- 70s

​

The young lady called grandma by a boy

is called grandma by the old man.

she stays as ever in her age of 20 here under the earth.

In the silent running of time and tide

a boy turns an old man,

The young lady called grandma by both

remains beneath the oak tree over there.

Around the oak time turns topsy-turvy ,

Does the time pushing the living on the back

stop running there to get rest on the leaves of glasses?

Or, does it spin itself around the oak

for a Grandma 20 years old

who exists in the high and unfrequented mountain

as nameless flowers blooming in spring,

as leaves of glasses getting dry up in winter?

​

Grandma!

Today I say goodbye to you.

I recollect a day in the remote past when father here said between sobss,

" If I could remember just one time how your figure is, mother!"

However I ,your grandson , has less heart suffering,

as mother, your daughter-in-law 92 years old

is near by you as the wind or soil.

Grandma, some day not far from now

This grandson also shall be here as a handful of ashes

beneath the surface of the ground

near the oak,

or, be there in the sea by the Island of Sui Yi

as where you are is too far ,and too high

for me to be taken by someone.

​

As the sound of sanjo runs rolling into the speedy tempo of Jajinmori, the old man's thinking follows suit. The rhythm of it in a moment bring in his closed eyes the path which is continued here beginning from the unseen entrance of the valley far- off downward. The way makes curves from corner to corner in the unendlessly long winding path up to the slope here near the peak of the mountain. Sometimes appears well-strightened and wider way with tall chestnut trees near at one side of it, and sometimes is followed in connection by a gentle path upd with pretty flowers ,pink and yellow, of nameless grasses side by side. In a moment appears a snake on the path groveling into the grass bushes. There the path suddenly makes an abrupt turn and an unexpectedly new path turning up with the almost opposite direction lets him be confused.

This is the the image of the way up emerged before his mind-eyes through the recollection on the past days when he would climb to be here .

​

Soon at the time of the rhythmic sound of Daegum Sanjo going down, the old man is reminded of a phrase in a book which told an anecdote about 'a disorder of the time'. It is related with a Nepal sherpa guide. The anecdote showed a well described scene in the snow-covered mountain where two old men of 70s mourn over the courpse of their father of 30s ,who was found dead in the frozen but physically good condition kept in the crevasse for over 70 years since he had disappeard in a moment in the mountain during his climbing. It as an It was due to the glacial moving. By the way, such the same unusual thing happens, beyond the due course of time, here also in the mountain as it did in a mountainous region of Nepal.