Evening
Evening, it’s time for dinner
I step out and shout for my father who’s still walking in the woods
Night is seeping in
the darkness spreading like ink on rice paper
Every shout pushes the night back for a moment
In the silences, it crowds back in
My voice echoes among the trees
rippling outward in the wind
as I call for him
For a moment, the old man’s answer
brightens the night
About the translators
Austin Woerner is a Creative Fellow in Chinese-English literary translation at the University of Leeds.
Du Wenjia is an MA student currently enrolled in the English Literature course at the School of English, University of Leeds.