중동 지역의 오랜 전통을 지닌 유명한 마물 쿠키
매일 한 두편의 시를 아침식사를 마치고 커피를 마시면서 읽곤 하는데,
평소에 좋아하는 나이씨가 쓴 영시를 감상하게 되었다.
요즘 전 세계가 COVID19 바이러스로 불안에 떨고,
반 강제적으로 사람들을 멀리해야 하는 이상한 시기에 읽으니
더 가슴에 와 닿는다.
Gate A-4/A-4 게이트 Naomi Shihab Nye - 1952- /내오미 쉬합 나이(1952- ) Wandering around the Albuquerque Airport Terminal, after learning my flight had been delayed four hours, I heard an announcement: "If anyone in the vicinity of Gate A-4 understands any Arabic, please come to the gate immediately." 내가 탈 비행기가 4시간 후로 연기되었다는 것을 알고나서 알버커키 공항내를 돌아 다니다가, 방송을 통해서: "혹시 A-4 게이트 근처에 계신 분 중에, 아랍어가 가능하신 분이 계신다면, A-4 게이트로 바로 와 주십시요." 라는 소리를 들었다. Well—one pauses these days. Gate A-4 was my own gate. I went there. 요즘 세상이 세상인지라 잠시 고민하다가, 내가 출발할 게이트인 A-4로 갔다. An older woman in full traditional Palestinian embroidered dress, just like my grandma wore, was crumpled to the floor, wailing. "Help," said the flight agent. "Talk to her. What is her problem? We told her the flight was going to be late and she did this." I stooped to put my arm around the woman and spoke haltingly. "Shu-dow-a, Shu-bid-uck Habibti? Stani schway, Min fadlick, Shu-bit- se-wee?" The minute she heard any words she knew, however poorly used, she stopped crying. She thought the flight had been cancelled entirely. She needed to be in El Paso for major medical treatment the next day. I said, "No, we're fine, you'll get there, just later, who is picking you up? Let's call him." We called her son, I spoke with him in English. I told him I would stay with his mother till we got on the plane and ride next to her. She talked to him. Then we called her other sons just for the fun of it. Then we called my dad and he and she spoke for a while in Arabic and found out of course they had ten shared friends. Then I thought just for the heck of it why not call some Palestinian poets I know and let them chat with her? This all took up two hours. She was laughing a lot by then. Telling of her life, patting my knee, answering questions. She had pulled a sack of homemade mamool cookies—little powdered sugar crumbly mounds stuffed with dates and nuts—from her bag—and was offering them to all the women at the gate. To my amazement, not a single woman declined one. It was like a sacrament. The traveler from Argentina, the mom from California, the lovely woman from Laredo—we were all covered with the same powdered sugar. And smiling. There is no better cookie. And then the airline broke out free apple juice from huge coolers and two little girls from our flight ran around serving it and they were covered with powdered sugar, too. And I noticed my new best friend— by now we were holding hands—had a potted plant poking out of her bag, some medicinal thing, with green furry leaves. Such an old country tradi- tion. Always carry a plant. Always stay rooted to somewhere. And I looked around that gate of late and weary ones and I thought, This is the world I want to live in. The shared world. Not a single person in that gate—once the crying of confusion stopped—seemed apprehensive about any other person. They took the cookies. I wanted to hug all those other women, too. This can still happen anywhere. Not everything is lost. 한글번역: Nancy Helen Kim© |
Note: 한글 번역은 며칠 후에 내립니다.
마물 쿠키는 크리스마스나 부활절 혹은 Eid 명절 며칠 전에 만들었다가
초콜렛과 아랍 커피와 곁들여서 먹는 특별한 과자로
중동 지역에서 고대로부터 내려오는 긴 전통의 과자이다.
정작 무서워야 할 상대는 바이러스인데도
지구촌에서 요즘 동양인들을 싸잡아서
차별하고 무례하게 구는 일들이 왕왕 일어나는 사태를 보고
한달 전에 뉴질랜드 여행에서 돌아 올 때 공항에서 접해 본
냉냉한 반응을 직접 겪어 본 후라서 마음이 무거워진다.
그러다가, 우연히 다시 오늘 읽게 된 이 시가
내게 큰 위안이 되어 준다.
나도 이스라엘을 방문했을 때 먹어 보았던
이 고소하고 달콤한 마물 쿠키가 먹고 싶어진다.
