Early Autumn—Silver Candles, Autumn Light Chill the Painted Screen

At dawn it enters the courtyard trees; the lonely traveler hears it first.

Of these few lines by Liu Yuxi, I suppose I have come to feel something.

The second Mid-Autumn Festival I will not spend at home is approaching. Though the weather is still hot, the gradually earlier sunsets and the intermittent rain all herald the coming of autumn.

When I read Liu Yuxi's "Song of the Autumn Wind," I couldn't help but fit it into this mood.

The autumn wind slips silently into the courtyard; in truth, it is the traveler far from home who first hears the sound of autumn.

As someone who likes writing prose, I write about spring, summer, autumn, and winter almost every year, yet the state of mind each time I write is vastly different.

The first time I wrote, autumn was scattered fiery red among withered yellow, and a blazing sunset.

The next time, autumn was the lingering desolation at summer's end, hurried passersby on the road of chasing dreams.

Then, the scent of osmanthus and the anticipation of harvest.

Later still, it was the sigh in senior year of high school over how easily time slips away, and the fear of being labeled an "adult."

And now, writing about autumn, this state of mind can perhaps be expressed by Liu Yong's "Wandering of Youth."

Returning clouds, once gone, leave no trace; where is that former time? Playful nature grown distant, drinking companions sparse and desolate—unlike the days of youth.

Only after turning 20 did I begin to feel that we, the post-95 generation, are no longer so young.

Too many worries.

The last three lines are practically a portrait of young people at this age: too much useless socializing fills life, and having just begun to taste life, one already has a little less zest.

Close friends have grown fewer; more often they are a name sitting in the contacts list, long out of touch, or a few likes in Moments.

Everything is different from when we were young.

Perhaps this is the bewilderment of facing survival versus living.