Poem Game

28. Sky Dreams (Sijo)

Introduction to Sijo

The sijo (pronounced shee-jo) is a Korean poem that emerged in the Goryeo dynasty (918-1392). Sijo often cover pastoral, metaphysical, and cosmological themes and are very lyrical, as they are meant to be sung. The sijo is made up of three lines arranged thematically and technically, with four syllable groups and 14-16 syllables per line. In the first line, a theme is established 3-4-4-4; the second line elaborates on the theme 3-4-4-4; the first part of the third line is a “twist,” a surprise in meaning, sound, or other device, 3-5; and the second part of the third line is a conclusion that ties off the poem 4-3. An extended sijo may be written with each stanza following this pattern, and while sijo are only three lines, in English the poem, or stanza, may be split up into six lines with two syllable groups per line and an indent in each “second” line.

Sky Dreams

My dear sky, distant and deep

-----knows not I sleep beneath his span

Drifting by so far above,

-----unreachable, omnipresent

Lost in blue, I drift within dreams,

-----the heavens’ earth overhead

 

Lightly blows a hueless breeze

-----awakens me, a butterfly

Reaching up, dizzying height,

-----my eyes mirrors, reflecting clouds

I drown in a sky like the sea

-----sinking in the open air

 

Dancing in the wind that sighs

-----long, waving grass hears a mute song

Slender forms that sway and bend

-----to please the sky, watching above

I, too, watch, but my ears are deaf

-----I cannot dance for the sky

 

I look up at the heavens

-----where the earth is but a marble

The sky is too large to hold

-----and I too small to embrace him

But I know he always hovers

-----above my head and is there

 

He and I may never meet

-----as he and I are of earth, sky

Every branch of tree I climb

-----the distance grows, he is still far

But on the mountains far away

-----he alights, and we may meet