“I continued my walk into the sun”

Aiden Heung of Shanghai celebrates the season on Mo Gan Mountain in Zhejiang, China, from the current issue of Deep Wild: Writing from the Backcountry.

Morning Walk

One creek
would be enough; one muddy trail
led me up hills where green
tufted within the milky fog
of morning. Summer felt like Autumn.
On my skin tiny feet of dew.
On my boots the color of stones.
Above me, waxberries cobbled in red.
Beneath, a lake pooled in
from the west, out of my control.
The wind began to stir
through the tall grass that tongued my legs.
Pews of boulders on the shimmering slope.

I halted under a tree that blew light,
ate my breakfast,
thought about all the work I’d leave undone
and continued my walk into the sun.

Deep Wild Journal is the home for creative work inspired by journeys to places where there are no roads. To learn more, and to order your copy, visit deepwildjournal.com.