I can’t sleep well. There are many situations that can keep us awake at night. In my case, it is the difficulty of falling asleep.
Of course, when I can't sleep well, I go to bed late. And if I sleep late, I wake up late as well. But I shouldn't. I have to get up early. So, I try not to sleep late. But I find it hard to fall asleep! While I need to get up early, I go to bed late and wake up late the next day! I can't fall asleep.
These days, I have such a repeating routine.
I see autumn passing by. I smell the change in seasons, which affects my physical condition. So I try to find and listen to a song that is likely to be acceptable to my condition.
Then, I think of a poem. With the words "fall" and "season," I naturally recite "A Night of Counting Stars" by Yoon Dong-ju.
“The sky through which the season passes is full of autumn.
Without any worries, I could possibly count all the stars in the autumn…”
In elementary school computer class, I didn’t make the ‘Hangul 2001 chart’ that my teacher asked me to do, but secretly turned on the ‘Hancom typing practice’ program. I pressed the "Long text" menu, and then selected "A Night of Counting Stars." Since it is the shortest among many long stories, I practiced typing like crazy. At that time, the speed of the batter was 600 strokes. Now that I think about it, it's not something an average elementary school student can do. I guess I should have prepared like a stenographer. Anyway, it led me to memorize the poem, “A Night of Counting Stars.” It gave me great pride to have a poem to memorize, and I suspect it was the beginning of my literary pretensions. Those who want to develop literary sensibility must start enjoying typing practice! (humor)
The poem begins with counting the stars in the sky on autumn nights, and I thought the poet was just like me. The night is long. The stars are aplenty. Morning is coming, and my youth remains.
I pity the poet who had spent a longer night than I did. I feel the comfort of kinship.
This fall, this poem came to mind again, as my sleeplessness continues.
After the autumn, winter will come, but I don't have a winter poem in mind.
It is an autumn night, and I am afraid to count the number of long winter nights.
Kookmin University, School of Performing Arts
Class of 2017
Lee Shi-yoon
