'O Worm Jacob!

                                   Soo Yong Kim

Even though your body was cut into two pieces,

Like worm you survived, O worm Jacob!

Indian Poet, Tagore called Korea, ‘The Lamp of the East’

In his poem,

But now Korea is called, ‘The Lamp of the World”.

And became a strong wealthy nation.

Our motherland, the Republic of Korea!

Even though our peninsula surrounded by the sea

Had been attacked by foreign countries,

Our country survived standing firm against adversity

Like tumbler during the period time of long history.

The 38th parallel with barbed-wired entanglements

Divided our country into two parts

And it imprisoned both of us.

Since then, almost seventy years has passed and

Parents, brothers and sisters, husband and wife

Have been separated and spent time with tears and sighs

In the miserable tragedy.

Who could heal the broken hearts and glue back the pieces?

Their parents and siblings whom they loved the most

Passed away already and

Survived family buried their sorrows at heart.

Who could sympathize with their torment and agony?

O Heavenly Father! You pour your mercy and

Benevolence upon Korean people!

We wish You would bless us to lead to our unification

In the near future!

O Jacob! You made peace with Esau at last,

After you went through ups and downs in your life.

Admirable Jacob, you fulfilled Messiah’s genealogy.

We are very proud of our country that took after Jacob.

We wish we could sing a unification song hand in hand

All over our land in the very near future!

We wish we would pray Jacob’s prayer at the ford of the Jabbok

Arm in arm endlessly.

We would sing our anthem, “God protect and shield us.

Cheers to You, Long live Korea! ……”

We inherited Jacob’s blessings!

Expecting that Epoch-making stroke in history to make peace

between Jacob, South Korea and Esau , North Korea,

Unification would be fulfilled sooner or later.

We will exclaim, “Long live Korea! Cheers to Generation to generation!”.

*Korea has been divided into two parts, North Korea and South Korea after the Korean War in 1950. Since then, Korean people have been aspiring eagerly to have unification of two countries as one nation.

In the Bible, Jacob and Esau were brothers. Esau was elder brother and Jacob was younger brother. Jacob took birth right for first-born from Esau for a bowl of red been porridge. Jacob ran away from him to Laban, his uncle who lived far away. They became opponents. Esau made up his mind to revenge Jacob someday. 20 years later, Jacob made a lot of money and made decision to return to his homeland. Esau heard Jacob was returning home and Esau was ready to kill him, Jacob, with his 400 subjects.

Before crossing the ford of the Jabbok, he kneeled down to pray to God about Esau who was ready to kill Jacob. God touched Esau. When they met together, they embraced each other and cried with forgiveness and happiness.    

*In the Bible, Isaiah: chaper 41, verse 14, "It is written, 'O worm Jacob'....".

*I won a Grand Prize for this poem.

*Worm means earthworm. Even though the earthworm is cut in the middle, it survives.