I Listen for the Name

Bring water
Tear more cloth
And ask that man his name

I cannot heal them
Let me say that first
A man whose belly is open I cannot heal
A man losing blood like that, I cannot either
What I do is hold a hand
Wet a cloth and hold it to a mouth
And there is one more thing

I put my ear close and listen
I listen for what comes out between the breaths
If I cannot hear it I ask again
Say it once more for me

I listen for the name
I write the name
Even if I cannot save him
I can make sure somebody knows
The name his mother called him
That is the name I write
Not the number the army gave him
The name they called him at home

The paper ran out
I used the last of it yesterday
So I wrote on cloth
And after that on wood
Today I write on the arm of a living man
So that if he dies
someone will look at that arm and read
You write it while he is still alive

Park Deok-su
Kim Man-bok
Yi Dol-i

At sixteen I learned my letters
I found paper beneath the floorboards
and sat at the door for three days to be taught
I did not know then what it was for

I listen for the name
I write the name
Even if I cannot save him
I can make sure somebody knows
The name his mother called him
That is the name I write
Not the number the army gave him
The name they called him at home

A man took my hand and asked
Did you write it?
I said I wrote it
And then he closed his eyes
He did not say thank you
There was no time for that
But I heard it
That "ah"
That one breath

I listen for the name
I write the name
I cannot save them
but I will not let them be forgotten
Fire burns
Salt preserves
Iron remembers
And a person writes

Next
Next man
What is your name?