J

RalphLeave a comment 
Did we love?
I’d say we did. 
When you brought me into your home
and gave me a bowl of dumpling soup 
and a bottle of vinegar,
I found myself submerged 
in the kaleidoscope of your world
and only after I had reemerged 
I knew it was love.

in your absence — as the knowledge you were gone had begun to settle —
I discovered a cruel determination
was the only reason I bring myself to the world in the morning. 
Inflamed in self-hatred, 
I grinded my way forward, or
stupefying my eyes to escape. 

Now I realize
I had not yet to thank you. 
Thank you for bearing with me. 
For your bare honesty and trust in me
had allowed me to know
I could be accepted, trusted, and loved. 

I felt alive, perhaps for the first time. 
For that, I am grateful to you.

4.24.2026

Norwegian

RalphLeave a comment 
you were always veiled in mystic quietness.
The kind that invokes curiosity and attracts 
nostalgically beautiful destructiveness. 

the way your dark brown hair fell across your face 
as the curtain ebbed by lazy summer wind 
listening to the music through your earphones of your iPod 

imprinted into my memory as if 
I had stared up to the sun with my bare eyes 
before I could flinch away.

who would have known
this memory would last 
until this very moment. 

4.23.2026

Y

RalphLeave a comment 
홀로 서있는 너를 보았다. 
떠나는 나를 보고 슬퍼하는 너를 향해
앞으로 달려갔다. 

우리가 마주한지 많은 해가 지내갔다.
마지막으로 너를 마주했던 나는 어렸다.
아무것도 모른채, 오직 너만을 바랬다.

그 후로 목숨을 걸 수 밖에 없는 순간들이 많았다.
뒤돌아설 수도, 도망칠 수도 없는 순간들을
정신 없이 싸우고 살아남고 나니 깨달았다.

나는, 너를, 정말로, 진심으로 좋아했고,
이 세상에, 그만큼, 중요한것은, 사실은, 없다는걸. 
죽음이 내 앞에 앉아 기다리고 있다 한들,
나는 떳떳하게 말할 수 있다는걸 깨달았다.

그 모든 순간들의 역경을 버티고
나에게 주어진 짤막한 순간에 
나는 너에게 마지막의 웃음을 지으며 이렇게 말한다.

"야, 내가 너를 많이 좋아하는거, 알지?"

내 눈이 너의 눈을 바라 보았고

나는 너의 입술에 입을 맞췄다.

그 순간, 나는 꿈에서 깨어났다.

4.22.2026






Guardians

RalphLeave a comment

In the early evening in New York City,

I walked into a tin can subway train

from Washington Heights station infested with mice,

pulled out my MacBook, and start typing away my research paper.

My concentration was broken only

when three convivial middle aged Black joggers entered the same car.

In between giggles of two women, the Black man said —

“Whew, did not know this neighborhood that safe!”

And each set in a respective seats that formed a triangle around me.

Proud, dignified, exhuming adrenergic from a recent run,

they laughed and chatted like a clear-day sunlight.

Among them in my feigned naïveté and gravitas, I basked in their magnificence.

As the train rumbled through into the Downtown New York,

People started coming in — armored in Patagonia vests, Theory coats, and On sneakers.

As the chirping of young, flush, White professionals, lauding their inebriated blindness grew louder

the three gradually became mum, withering into three tree branches.

Soon, the quietly exited the car.

I left the roaring subway car after a couple stops.

Their story had smeared on my heart

And I knew I would remember them for a long time,

keeping their secret to myself.

4.21.2026

바람

RalphLeave a comment 
오랜만에 언덕을 올라 갔을 때
바람이 불었다. 
익숙하면서도 새로운 바람이
내 손끝에서 팔과 어깨를 스쳐 갔을 때
수년 전의 사람이 떠올려졌다. 
놓을 저녁과 부드럽게 어울리던 그 미소가
서서히 내 가슴 속에 물들어 갈 때
차갑게 응어리진 무언가가 녹아들 때
고개들어 태양을 마주 보며 말하였다. 
고맙다고. 
지켜봐 달라고. 

4.18.2026