Post Station

Gathering Footprints

Every night
he lies down as if to sleep, then in the deep stillness
gropes his way out in haste—
travels over a thousand kilometers of highway,
hurries three more kilometers of mountain road,
until he reaches the pond of his hometown.

Around the old house,
through the red toon groves,
in the bitter bamboo forest,
across the cornfields,
he searches for those scattered footprints.

Luckily, Ah Huang in the yard still recognizes him,
doesn’t bark awake the silent village.
Sometimes, when the door-god or the stove-god dozes off,
he slips inside like a thief,
rifling for a lost photograph.

Occasionally, he hears grandpa’s asthmatic cough,
hears grandma hushing their young cousins to sleep.
Not until the rooster crows, urging again and again,
does he rush back the way he came—
three kilometers of mountain path,
a thousand-plus kilometers of highway—
then lies back down on the plank bed in the workers’ dorm,
pretending nothing happened the night before.

​

Author: Pen name Ding Zi. Legal name Ding Ruliang. Male, post-90s migrant worker, born in Yibin, Sichuan, currently residing in Wenzhou, Zhejiang. Poetry enthusiast who enjoys sharing poems on social media platforms. Multiple works published in online journals and WeChat public accounts. Early member of the Migrant Worker Poetry Society.

《收脚印》

每天夜里

他都假装躺下，夜深人静

又急急忙忙摸索出门

赶一千多公里车路

赶三公里山路

抵达故乡的池塘旁

老屋四周

红椿树林

苦竹林里

玉米地里

搜寻那些掉落的脚印

幸好院子里的阿黄还认识他

没有吠醒寂静的村庄

偶尔门神，灶神打盹

他还会像一个贼一样溜进屋

翻找一张遗失的照片

偶尔会听到爷爷哮喘咳嗽的声音

会听到奶奶诓堂弟堂妹睡觉的声音

直到鸡打鸣声一遍遍催促

才慌忙原路往回赶三公里山路

赶一千多公里车路

躺回工舍的木板床上

装作昨夜什么事都不曾发生

作者简介：笔名丁子，本名丁汝亮，男，90后民工，四川宜宾人，现居浙江温州。诗歌爱好者，喜欢在网络社交平台交流诗歌，有多篇作品发表在网刊和微信公众平台，打工诗社早期成员。