비 내리는 고모령 Rainy Gomoryeong

Looking back to the time I let go mother's hand
The owl cried and I cried too,
I long for the evening we crossed over the mountain ridges
with fallen leaves flying about.

How many years was it, I picked the amaranth blooming
Behind the water mill, enraptured?
Why can't I forget the budding wild rose?*
When will the falling rain cross Gomo pass?

Tears of childhood life, how many hills were there?
Among lanterns flickering at the tavern house,
Writing these sentimental notes to myself,
This evening yet, the night sings the homesick song


작사 유호 Lyrics Ryu Ho
작곡 박시춘 Music Park Si-choon
노래 현인 Original artist Hyun Ryin

*Multiple artists have recorded this song since Hyun Ryin's original. It's theme is about the lingering nostalgia for the life before coming of age and leaving the family home town ( 고 향 ) in the country. As usual, my interpretation of the lyrics is subjective and may includes some mistakes. A literal translation is awkward and difficult. The reference to 망향초 is an allusion to an old Chinese Han Dynasty legend of a beautiful princess 왕소군 exiled to a foreign land, who died there; it also literally means "nostaglia flower" the wild rose that sprouted on her grave near the border of her home country, where she wished to be buried. She died young due to her homesickness. Thus the line's reference to the "situation of the wild rose" probably refers to fleeing Koreans during the Japanese colonial period perhaps to join the independence movement.

I updated my earlier interpretation of 8.12.20 on 5.5.24