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I mean the children's song 어느 봄날 (One spring day). The lyrics goes as follows:

돌배 꽃 꽃잎에 싸여
어느새 잠이 든 낮달
잠깨워 데려 갈 구름 없어
꽃 속에 낮잠을 잔다.

꿀벌아 멀리, 멀리 가거라.
선잠 깬 낮달이 울면서
멀리 떠날라.

What I am not able to understand is the second part of the lyrics. I think I know the meaning literally but still cannot figure out what it is trying to convey. In particular, why does the honey bee (꿀벌) have to go away? And why will the day-time-moon (낮달, if this is the meaning of the word) probably wake up crying and leave? For the latter question, I am supposing that the moon will leave because of loneliness (no clouds to accompany her), but the bees? I still have no idea. Any help is appreciated! Thank you!

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Simply put, the poetic speaker believes that the bees can interrupt the moon's light sleep (nap).


The sentence ending, -ㄹ라, used for the last line is defined as the following:

-ㄹ라: 혹 그렇게 될까 봐 염려됨을 나타내는 종결 어미.

(-ㄹ라: a sentence-final ending used when worrying that something could happen as said in the preceding statement.)

What worries the poetic speaker is that the moon might be awakened from a light sleep and go far away (with/while) crying. As you know, external stimuli can easily wake one up from a light sleep.

But still, you might ask: "Why does the speaker mention the honey bees?" The answer is simple: She/He thinks that they are the most probable ones who can awake the moon that is sleeping on flower petals.

As the daytime moon is not a person, we may state that metaphor is used there. In other others, the moon, flowers, and honey bees may all refer to some things/ones else. Nevertheless, it could be just an imaginary situation created in the poet/lyricist's mind or just a sentimental interpretation on what she/he saw. We cannot be sure about it unless the poet/lyricist reveals her/his intention.

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  • Oh yes, the bees' noise! How come I did not realize that! Anyway, while the idea that an insect can have influence on a celestial body is bit of a stretch in normal everyday thinking, but since this is a 동요 I can totally get the idea. Thank you @Klmo for always posting timely and detailed answers to my questions. Really appreciate your effort.
    – user23823
    Aug 11, 2019 at 12:48
  • @user23823 No problem. I sometimes think that poets are kind of photographers who describe their photos. The photos developed in their minds can be realistic, unrealistic, or both.
    – Klmo
    Aug 11, 2019 at 13:09
  • an older question discussing the use of 라 as used here:korean.stackexchange.com/questions/1688/…, also related: korean.stackexchange.com/questions/1777/…
    – user17915
    Aug 12, 2019 at 8:57

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