Author: Sister Lee Hae-in
Publisher: Saemteosa
288 pages | 210*153mm
| Important! Please read before you order! |
| >>>This book is written in Korean. |
About This Book
Sister Lee Hae-in, a Catholic nun and poet, has published a book written
during the five years she was fighting cancer, and in the wake of a
series of deaths of those who were close to her.
But the tragic incidents seem to make her faith and passion for life
stronger than ever, as she looks back to the moments of pain, and,
moreover, endurance.
Her writing in “As If Leaves Are Seen After Flowers Fall” (Samtoh: 288
pp., 12,800 won) shows the process of overcoming obstacles in a
sophisticated way and sometimes so calmly that it’s touching. Lee has
provided words of life, love and hope to readers through her poetic
language, and emphasizes the importance of hope this time again to
anyone, anywhere.
Her language is intensified with illustrations by Hwang Gyu-baek who
portrays stone walls and a small bird we could pass by without noticing
their existences.
Above all, her writings include her heartfelt messages full of yearnings
and traces of the late figures such as Stephen Cardinal Kim Sou-whan,
Ven. Beopjeong, Father John Lee Tae-suk, writer Jang Young-hee and
essayist Pi Cheon-deuk.
Consisting of six chapters, the book has a preface written by the late
author Park Wan-sue, actually a letter to Lee before Park died on April
16, 2010. Lee and Park had a solid friendship with each other. The
letter reveals more heart-breaking messages from Park, saying “You are
the holy tree in my hometown. I don’t want to see the tree withered
during my life. I want to leave this world with your cares. Please, live
longer than me. God, think my request a pity.”
Lee likens our lives to a tree which drops flowers but replaces them
with leaves, reflecting on her fears and sorrows to see those who were
close to her pass away.
“As if leaves rise after flowers fall, if somebody leaves me, his/her
empty place feels bigger... Through the entire life, if we have wisdoms
to better manage our sorrows when we meet and part people, can our lives
be happier?”
Her book also contains several pieces of the letters exchanged with the
late revered monk Beopjeong with whom she had many things in common in
regard to observing life and gratitude beyond their religions. The
Buddhist monk revealed his warm, frugal and restraint life and
friendship between the two through the letters. “I regret that I didn’t
go to Bulilam (a small temple just behind Songgwang Temple in South
Jeolla Province) even though he invited me there,” said Lee. The
correspondence includes Beopjeongletters written in the 1980s in Bulilam
and in the 2000s at a rustic cottage in Gangwon Province. The writing
captures the beautiful landscape of the natural background where the
monk lived along with his warm-hearted observations of life.
Also, her portrayal of convent life shows her daily journals written in
2010 while she received treatment for cancer and struggled to beat the
sorrow of her colleagues dying before her, but didn’t lose peace rather
it kept a delightful tone in discovering the trivial happiness in daily
lives.
“I tried to wake myself up and write the Christmas letters, not to fall
into a kind of asthenia and say hello to the visitors in the convent. Or
I tried to listen to neighbors’ small talk in the alley and the post
office. Anyway I had to make the efforts to get out of myself. Cancer
patients tend to suffer depression. So to prevent this, I should try
harder,” she said.
To commemorate the deceased figures, she wrote poems and verses full of
yearning and respect to them. She recalled the memory of the late
cardinal. “One day, the cardinal asked me if I received treatment for
cancer and I said ‘yes’ and then he said, ‘You’re so great.’ So I almost
tore it up. Since then, I have said so to those who endure all the pains
as the cardinal did,” she said.
Toward John Lee Tae-suk who devoted his life to the Sudanese people as a
medical practitioner and Catholic missionary, she said his love made all
the people unite through his devotion and effort to adapt himself to the
local environment. “I heard you were shouting that life filled with
selfishness and complacency is not a desirable one through your strong
silence,” the author said.
The book closes with her poem “Journey,” which condenses her
perspectives on life and sympathy for all that is disappearing:
“Since I was born
I have been a pilgrim
I was born between high mountains and low lakesides in Gangwon Province
My journey is like climbing every day
Like walking on the water
Now
I am sick very much
My life gets heavy
But my mind is light like wind blowing to the mountains
Like a bird that flies over the lake
Before I end my life
I will tell it
To all of them I met on the streets
Waving my hands
For the moments to cry much
I accepted it as love
I was happy, thankful and beautiful.”
chungay@koreatimes.co.kr
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