In the summer,
every pine tree brims with caterpillars,
feasting relentlessly on the tender needles.

Higher up,
in the pine forest crowning the mountain,
towering trees stretch five to eight meters toward the sky.
Each trunk bears V-shaped incisions,
with bags hanging below to collect the sap that seeps from the wounds.

The ground beneath the pine forest is densely layered with pine needles.
Among the sap-bleeding trees,
I stumbled upon something rare: countless caterpillar fungi
lying quietly across the forest floor.

August 2022, Yunnan