(After watching the Valka Choir Festival)

I watched a world unfold upon the screen—
two nations once one, now divided
by the seam of a river: Latvia and Estonia.
Yet every year in Valka they gather,
their voices crossing the border
that cuts through the city’s heart.

Estonian, Latvian, Russian,
and now even English—
their voices rise,
a chorus of memory and hope.

They say,
“Song defeated war.”
And I believe them.
For within their harmony,
the silence of division trembles.

Since the Schengen Accord of 1985,
the border could be crossed without visas.
Now there are no barriers,
no waiting walls.
Freedom has become footsteps.

And here, on Korean peninsula still divided,
I pray—
for the day North and South meet
not with weapons,
but with song.

May that day come swiftly.
May it be true.
And may we too lift our voices as one—

“Song defeated war.”

© TaeHun Yoon 2014