Timid Love

Written by Fatemeh Khalili.

“To my Moon,
You stare at me in silence from the sky
You follow me every night
Yet
This is our sad love story:
Your lack of courage in coming down to earth
And my inability in flying to your sky”


“달님에게,
하늘에서 나를 조용히 바라보는 달님
매일 밤 나를 따라오는 달님
그러나
이것은 우리의 슬픈 사랑 이야기
너가 땅에 내려오지 못한 용기와
내가 하늘까지 닿지 못한 힘”

Each and every love story of ours is incomparable to those that others have experienced, even if they share some similarities in some parts. And the reason is because we are all different as human beings. Yet, there is this unique kind of love that one falls into for the moon: two different beings, belonging to two totally distant worlds. Of course, such a “fall” is possible, but the result is not guaranteed, especially when neither of you has the courage to confess it… 

Photograph by Halle Nouri

The Author

Fatemeh Khalili is an Iranian GKS (Global Korea Scholarship) student studying Korean at Chonnam National University. She will start her master’s degree in Korean literature in Seoul this autumn. She loves literature because she believes each country’s emotion and culture is included in its literature. Therefore, she wants to act as a bridge between Korea and Iran by translating each country’s literary works. Fatemeh has written both versions of this poem. Instagram: @koreanicles