Will You Be There When I Go to Huntington Beach: A Posthumous Poetry Collection by Lee O-young

Author Lee O-young · Publisher Yolimwon · Published 2022-03-07 · ISBN 9791170400813

About the Book

"I walk the path you walked."
The sad and beautiful period of farewell,
Lee O-young's posthumous poetry collection from a intellectual of his time

I walk the path you walked.
That place will probably be a path of the soul unknown to both you and me. - From the Foreword

On February 26, 2022, Lee O-young, an intellectual and great teacher of his time, passed away at the age of 89. Anticipating the 10th anniversary of his daughter, Pastor Lee Min-ah, who became a 'bride of heaven' before him, he 'returned' to his beloved daughter and Heavenly Father's embrace. At the end of his fading life, he meticulously collected and organized these poems, carefully examining the cover and composition. Days before embarking on his long journey, he completed this poetry collection by reciting the foreword in a faint but firm voice.
Part 1, 'The Crow's Song,' expresses spiritual enlightenment and repentance gained by approaching God. Part 2, 'Life Beginning with a Single Tear,' conveys gratitude and encouragement to all mothers. Part 3, 'For a Blue Cradle,' celebrates the purity and hope of growing children. Part 4, 'Will I Find You in Huntington Beach?' details the painful time after losing his daughter. Huntington Beach is a city in California, USA, where his daughter, Pastor Lee Min-ah, lived. The longing of 'Father Lee O-young' for his daughter, who left too soon and became unreachable, shines with transparent sorrow through refined poetic language. The appendix collects poems dedicated to the works of potter Shin Gyeong-gyun, whose art the author had always admired.

I will meet the eyes of each person, like lit windows / I will do so when I meet all living creatures with eyes // (Omitted) If someone sees my eyes and knocks, I too / will open my door to them / Until their height reaches my roof / we will gather our rooms and build a large house.
- From "My Body, My Room"

Lee O-young was a man of keen insight who could penetrate the world with a sharp and decisive gaze, but he was also a poet who "believed in the human heart" and truly loved his world and people. The power of love and coexistence, trust in the good heart of humanity, confidence and action for the future, the value of eternal life circulating in the form of life and death... His quiet voice, emphasizing peace by dreaming of a flight to care for "small lives to embrace" and saying "be a harp, not a bow," still vividly rings in our ears.
To overcome "the cold of poverty," "the cold of being alone," and "the cold of war," something "warmer" is needed. Something like the compassionate care of "a mother's winter story," the expectation for tomorrow held steadfastly like "the dream of a reptile buried underground," or the warmth of consideration felt in "the love of penguins huddling to form a wall against the blizzard." Perhaps these "warm things" become "the life of people who do not tremble even in a thousand years of cold, the food of love," serving as a firm stepping stone for coexistence.

From the midst of life to the homeland of death,
A collection of poems like flowers placed in the end credits

When I open my eyes, all those nights are gone / And the morning of resurrection comes // For that one morning / Behold the rising sun / Your morning is my morning / Morning is one.
- From "For One Morning"

'Memento Mori,' a phrase almost like the author's motto. Lee O-young never forgot death throughout his fierce life trajectory. He believed that death was a return to the place of birth, not an ending that closed forever. The author said he learned that "death is not futility or an end" by observing his daughter, Pastor Lee Min-ah's life. "After the dark night passes," morning comes today and tomorrow. In the form of an unfading light. "The beautiful and splendid resurrection of life" comes dazzlingly, "like lightning striking the darkness again."
The bone-chilling pain of losing his beloved daughter, with whom he couldn't even share "a breath of exhalation" and to whom he "shared his flesh and bones." They no longer "suffer so much alone through the long winter night," nor do they "walk alone" "into a time without you."

Believe that 'humans are good.'
I bid you farewell, sharing that heart.
I intend to return the shining gift I received.
I return to the place where I originally was.
- Lee O-young (Gwanghwamun Mural Memorial message)

Contents

Foreword

1 The Crow's Song
You Have Tears
Flowers and Bread
The Day Jacob's Well Water Became Tears
Bread That Cannot Be Eaten Without Tears
Prayer Is Connection
All I Know Is
Swallow
Dove
The Crow's Song
Eagle's Eye
Strength
The One Who Holds the Staff
Job's Song
Creatures
Cross
Magpie's Share
Baekdusan
The Meaning of a Single Plantain Flower Offered to the Deceased

2 Life Beginning with a Single Tear
Race in an Empty Field
Song Dedicated to the Cold
Life Beginning with a Single Tear
The Taste of Kim Jaban Made of Sea and Sky
Stone Books and Gold Rings
Bitter Apple
My Body, My Room
Crazy Goldfish
Mother Is a Culture Like Dancheong
Mother's Scent
Thinking
The People Who Make Volvo
Diana Hug
Running
Why Did They Say the Wolf Was Coming
3.5 Billion Years of Evolution
Invisible Eleven-Headed Avalokitesvara
Crows and Prejudice
Open Your Heart
If You Grow with Love
Heart
Open Your Hand

3 For a Blue Cradle
Lion's Eye
With a Single Word
The Meaning of Chopsticks
If There Is No Tomorrow, There Is the Day After Tomorrow
For a Blue Cradle
Patience
Looking in the Mirror
Airplane
Swinging
Green Star
A Baby with a Hundred Billion Computers
Coin Standing Upright
People Who Eat Sour Grapes
Like Watering Bean Sprouts
Be a Harp, Not a Bow
If a Butterfly Sits on Your Head, It Becomes a Ribbon
Clay Play
Mom and Dad Are One Person
The Most Precious Bell in This World
Clock
The Tongue Wins
Everything Like Dad
Sleepy Time

4 Will I Find You in Huntington Beach?
I Am Truly Sorry to Be Alive
Morning Came Again Today
Let's Go to Neverland
Running Slow
Flag of Life
Miracle of Hidden Numbers
Speedometer of Death
Winter Is Still Far Away
April Fool's Lie
Nothing Is Stronger Than a Photo
Where the Photo Was Taken
For One Morning
I Can't Call You
Memory Box
The Seat You Sat In
It Wasn't Like That Before
Thinking of You
All Those People Are There
Things That Money Can't Buy
There Is No Rhetoric in Death
Grave
What Time Is It Now
Wedding at Cana
Your Breath, a Bride of Heaven
Thinking It Might Be You
Windy Evening
Will I Find You in Huntington Beach?

5 Appendix
The Ducks of Manjeonchun Come to Us
Inkwell Holding My Heart
Bluer and More Beautiful Than Jade
Where Have You Been, Now You're Here
Chrysanthemum, Prayer of Dots
As You and I Become One
A Thousand Years of Agarwood