The Physics of Love

사랑의 물리학

질량의 크기는 부피와 비례하지 않는다

제비꽃같이 조그마한 그 계집애가

꽃잎같이 하늘거리는 그 계집애가

지구보다 더 큰 질량으로 나를 끌어당긴다.


순간, 나는

뉴턴의 사과처럼

사정없이 그녀에게로 굴러 떨어졌다

쿵 소리를 내며, 쿵쿵 소리를 내며

심장이

하늘에서땅까지

아찔한 진자운동을 계속하였다

첫사랑이었다.

The Physics of Love

Mass is not proportional to volume.
That girl as small as a violet,
that girl who floats like a petal
pulls me toward her with a force
greater than the Earth’s mass.

In an instant,
like Newton’s apple,
I dropped with a thump
and rolled to her
without stopping.

Thump. Thump.
My dizzy heart kept swinging
between Heaven and Earth—
it was my first love.

--- Kim In-yook  with English translation by David Bowles.

This poem became very popular after it was featured in the Korean drama "Goblin" (Guardian: The Great and Lonely God). It describes love using simple physics ideas.