last night i saw yi sang singing in a noraebang
sounding just like a little sparrow does going
tang tang tacka tacka tk tk tk tk tang it was
such a sad little song that the sparrow sang
the kind that nobody else knew the words to
but don't think that stopped him - no way!
i can hear yi sang still, on the hanok roof
going tang tang tacka tacka tk tk tk tk tang
all day long, in dead silence, like a sparrow.
then i saw yi sang playing starcraft in a pc bang
losing badly, screaming at the screen, the air
heavy with teenage smoke and his keyboard
sticky with grape soda (do you think that stopped
yi sang? never! losing men and energy way too
fast to ever keep up with his competitors going
tang tang tacka tacka tk tk tk tk tang on
their worn-out keyboards all night long,
in networked silence, like a flock of sparrows.
then (if you can believe this) i saw yi sang
soaking himself in a jjimjilbang, his hair like
feathers on the head of a sparrow, spiky and
wet, like a sparrow drinking from the smallest
puddle you can imagine. as if wet feathers could
ever hold him back! don't believe it! yi sang, wet,
sitting in a pool in the jjimjilbang for hours on end,
his little heart racing as if he was flying through
air going tang tang tacka tacka tk tk tk tk tang.
tonight i'm sitting quietly in a corner of a dabang
thinking of yi sang and what he would have made
of the new multibang craze. maybe he would have
liked it, maybe there's a place for a little sparrow
inside a pay-as-you-go multitang, a little space
that goes tang tang tacka tacka tk tk tk tk tang
all day long if you want, if that's what you want,
if that's what makes you happy. don't you think
it's a nice idea? a nice way to re-imagine yi sang?
& tomorrow i'll be sitting in a dvd bang, watching
a movie based on the life of yi sang. i won't see
a single sparrow, i won't even hear the sound
a sparrow makes in a tree in the dark. don't you
know? don't you believe in the sound a sparrow
makes in the dark? never mind, i can remind you,
it sounds like tang tang tacka tacka tk tk tk tk tang,
all night long, in a corner of the sparrow dabang,
and it's the most beautiful, lonely sound in the world.
