 Sep 9 19 Sunshine Lee's Culture Essay Written in Poetry
Memories of Maggie
My acquaintance sent me an old song. "When You and I were young, Maggie"
It was “When You and I Were Young Maggie,” or “Memories of Maggie” in Korean. I used to listen to this song when I was young. It’s been a long time since I’ve listened to this, and the lyrics are so sorrowful that I had to listen to the song several times.
The English lyrics are different from the Korean lyrics that I remember. I had thought they were about memories with loved ones but now that I knew the original lyrics and the original story behind it, the song gave me a completely different impression. George Johnson, a graduate of the University of Toronto who later got his Ph.D. at Johns Hopkins University married Maggie Clark in 1865 and moved to Cleveland. That year, Maggie died and grief stricken George Johnson moved back to Canada to resume his teaching profession at the University of Toronto.
How sad. A widower less than a year after his marriage to a beloved wife. I feel sorry that I used to sing this song lightheartedly, unaware of the background. George Johnson wrote the poem in 1865, and the next year in 1866, James Butterfield of Chicago set the poem to music and the song became a hit. Now for 150 years, the song is considered one of the most popular songs in the U.S. Parting with loved ones is hard, then and now. Recently, a Psychology Specialist gave a lecture on ‘Broken Heart’ at TED event. He explained with many examples that the pain of a broken heart that people usually overlook can be a very severe and fatal disease. Whether it’s parting or bereavement, the one left behind who couldn’t love enough, would surely have a hard time. Listening to the song, 2 people come to my mind. One is my mother. 3 years after my father’s sudden death, she composed a series of poem which made her famous in Japan. Her “Sorrow, Pain and Woe of the Bereaved” moved readers and one of her poems from the collection got engraved on a tall poem monument in Aomori Japan. The other is Professor Kim Hyungsuk, 100 years old whom I met this spring. When Professor Kim Hyungsuk reached 80 years old, he suggested to his philosopher trio friends, Ahn Byungwook and Kim Taegil, that they should meet sometime, talk, and unburden themselves now that they were old. And Kim Taegil answered, “And what if one of us dies? The ones left will have a hard time. It’s better as it is now” Professor Kim Hyungsuk was apparently impressed by this remark because he never fails not to mention this episode in his lectures. And yet, his friends left him one after the other and he did have a hard time for 2 to 3 years. What Professor Kim Taegil said made me think. My mom and I lived far from each other with the Pacific Ocean between us, and we didn’t talk very much. Only now that she is gone, does she talk to me through her poems. Reading her love poems dedicated to my father made me admire that she could produce these great pieces since she had so many memories with him. Yet, now I also think that she must have been even more heartbroken, left alone after my father was gone.
lucky you to leave me first, who would imagine the scathing pain of the bereaved – Son Hoyon The poet of “When You and I Were Young Maggie” repeated the line “When I first said I love you, Maggie, And you said you loved only me” 7 times every verse. It’s plaintive. I also wonder if he died longing Maggie or fell in love again with someone else. He was so young and wrote a lot of romantic poems; he was full of romantic sentiments, so he must have grown to love someone else, this is what I like to imagine. My mom quietly pondered once, “If I had died before your father, your father might have remarried.” Those who read my mom’s poems would admire her by saying, “I didn’t know that someone could be so whole hearted to one person. It’s amazing that she ardently loved only one person till the moment she died. Such an admirable person” Yet, I know that my father deserved that great love.
When You and I were young, Maggie
The violets were scenting The woods, Maggie Their perfume was soft on the breeze When I first said I loved only you, Maggie And you said You loved only me
The chestnut bloomed green Through the glades, Maggie A robin sang loud From a tree When I first said I loved only you, Maggie And you said You loved only me
A golden row of daffodils Shone, Maggie And danced with the leaves on the lea When I first said I loved only you, Maggie And you said You loved only me
The birds in the trees Sang a song, Maggie Of happier days Yet to be When I first said I loved only you, Maggie And you said You loved only me
I promised that I'd come again, Maggie And happy forever We'd be When I first said I loved only you, Maggie And you said You loved only me
But the ocean proved Wider than miles, Maggie A distance Our hearts could not foresee When I first said I loved only you, Maggie And you said You loved only me
Our dreams They never came true, Maggie Our fond hopes were Never meant to be When I first said I loved only you, Maggie And you said You loved only me
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