Outdoor Dining Set

It was a restless night. The clear, mysterious light of the moon floated through the clouds. At three-thirty in the morning, Vava put on his headlamp, got his pack ready, pulled on the sneakers he had no choice but to wear, and continued on to the main summit of Yushan. His headlamp could only illuminate the ground a few steps ahead. He wanted to ask this Matriarch, Did we rely on each other like this in the past, too? As the light in the sky subtly shifted, he pushed through the pain in his feet, and with a churning mind and open eyes, pressed on, step by step, reaching the summit before sunrise. The writers held up their red banner, showing the name of the activity, and they took photos to prove they had done it. But Vava’s mind was still preoccupied with the fate of his people. He thought of the figures of his ancestors and the blood and shouts spent defending their homeland. Why do we still wander to this day? Does this ever-silent Matriarch know how close I have come to her? “Time to go!” Vava returned to earth, his Matriarch touching him with freezing wind. On the way down, he stroked his aching calves and the icy boulders, and softly chanting an ancient tune to this Matriarch. “Hu! Bunun to mailantagus (Oh! Ancestral spirits) …” -Ma Yi-Hang, It’s His First Time Climbing Yushan Too