Counting the Stars The autumn fills the sky where seasons flow. Carefree, I think I can count all the stars in the autumn sky. But I cannot count all the stars that come to mind one after another because the morning will soon come, because I still have tomorrow night, because my youth is not yet done. one star and memory one star and love one star and solitude one star and longing one star and poetry one star and Mother, Mother Mother, I say one beautiful word for each star. The names of childhood classmates; names of foreign girls like Ling, Peng; names of girls who are mothers now; names of my poor neighbours; dove, puppy, rabbit, mule, deer; names of poets like Francis Jammes and Rainer Maria Rilke. But there are too far away like the distant stars. And, Mother, you are in distant Manchuria. Longing for something, I write my name on this star-lit hill, and then cover it with earth. The insects chirping all night through bemoan their shameful names. When the winter passes and the spring comes to my star, the grass will proudly cover the hill where my name is buried, as green turf grows on the tombs.                                                             Dong-Ju Yun * Home * Profile * Life's Delights * Pictures * Journal * Wisdom * * Faith * Arts & Lit * Books * Korean Food * Recipes * Links * "There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle." Albert Einstein