by Anna Yin

Can one tell
a labyrinth from a maze?

From a stormy life,
autumn gradually
lets go its flaming shades.

In a small city with a foreign accent,
you find yourself at an old station.

The wind is salty.
The train hasn’t arrived.
The hall is hung with tapestries
in patterns of Paradise Lost.

You think of your lord
and the temple he built for you.
An oil lamp flickers in the corner.
Your suitcase remains heavy.

Over your head, the speaker
plays holiday music.
Your voucher drops.
You sigh. Someone
picks it up…

“Merci” you hear yourself say.
The train is hauling dreams…
You watch yourself get on and off.

Can one tell
a fog ahead from a solid wall?

Editor’s Note on Caught

Caught is not Anna Yin’s first piece in Eastlit. The following pieces of work have appeared in earlier Eastlit issues:

• Four Poems were published in Eastlit March 2013.
• Three Poems were published in Eastlit May 2013.
• Still Life and Two Other Poems appeared in Eastlit August 2014.