Monologue (독백)

Monologue (독백) <45.5x37.9cm, Acrylic on canvas, 2015>

I asked an old man. 'What is your age on this year, sir?'. That aged man replied 'I gained ages as many as the wrinkles in my mind.'. About my question of what are the things that those wrinkles are full of, his reply was the sorrow toward mountains he has already passed. What kind of tress were there in those mountains, which direction branches stretched from those trees, what was the shape of leaf at the end of branch, were there any evidences of worms' supper on leaf, what kind of stream was there under the evidences, was the salamander who was host of that stream stared at him, and so on. After he regained consciousness, every passed thing already became afterimage, and now he cannot even see those clearly in his dreams due to his amblyopia. I passed that aged man right before his tears, and set another foot to afterimage. Anyway time was flowing.

노인에게 물었다. '올해 연세가 어떻게 되시나요?'. 노옹은 '내 마음 속 주름만치 나이를 먹었다네.'라고 대답했다. 그 주름에 가득 찬 것이 무엇인지 묻자, 지나온 산들에 대한 슬픔이라 했다. 지나왔던 산들에 어떤 나무들이 있었는지, 그 나무들은 어떤 방향으로 가지들을 뻗었었는지, 가지 끝 나뭇잎은 어떤 모양새였는지, 그 나뭇잎에 벌레들이 식사를 했던 흔적들은 없었는지, 그 흔적 밑으로 어떤 냇가가 있었는지, 그 냇가의 주인이었던 도롱뇽은 그를 바라보고 있었는지 등. 정신을 차리고 보니 이미 지나왔던 것들이 잔상이 되어있었고, 시력이 나빠져 꿈에서 조차 잘 보이지 않는다 했다. 눈물을 흘리려 하는 노옹을 뒤로한 채 잔상으로 나아갔다. 어쨌든 시간은 흐르고 있었다.