In the village abandoned by its owners
lodging rooms are scattered here and there.

Before I know it,
darkness of soil—
then brightness,
until at last all colors rush in together,

a new world descending from the sky.

A single bird
comes close
and asks where my hometown is.

Before it even hears my answer
it flutters up
to a side branch.

When the bird calls
and the cries of insects
that went on endlessly through the night
begin to fade,

the children who live room to room
rise one by one.

The old couple
who went out to the fields last night
to choose constellations
from a shower of media-lit stars*

are still quiet
in their bedding.

This is
the morning
God is creating.

* Shooting stars visible each year on August 11–12 (the Perseids)

—Yoon Tae-heon, August 13, 1998