Just returned from Nepal where I led a course entitled Comparative Studies in Sustainable Living – we hiked daily, camped along the way in amazing landscapes, and the mountains, rivers and valleys were our classroom. The highlight was a two-day camp at Lake Rara – the highest fresh water lake in the world which is 187 metres deep at its deepest point. I wrote the following poem there during our day of silence, entitled Love Poem to Lake Rara:
A moment such as this…
So perfectly sublime
Suspended forever in a reverie
All else melted away
Only now
Rested in the lap of your peace
Can I worship your true beauty.
Waves lap at my feet
Gentle wet kisses tug at my soul
Reminding of reconnections…
Your deepest blue
Pulls me
Into a silence I strive to escape.
They call you Lake Rara
Here, nestled in your Himalayan basin
Where for countless seasons
You’ve bathed in the sun
Frozen in the snow
Danced with the winds
Lapped caves into the rocks
And fed all
Your essence of life.
But for me
You are just this moment:
Like the tiny yellow butterfly
Fluttering over the crests of your swells
Buffeted by the wind
Sparkling in the sun
No questions about where to?
Or from where?
Just for this instant
I surrender
Accept
Bow to all that you are
Here, now, for what this is
A moment of such profound peace.
I vow to return
With loved ones
But failing that
I leave
Embraced by your
Perfect harmony
Your crystal clear waters
Held by towering majestic peaks,
Pines cascade down the slopes
Rising up from behind
Your majestic mountainous amphitheatre
Great puffy clouds gather in slow motion
Forever changing the shadows of your moods
Crows call out
Warnings, a seagull soars
While the tiniest flowers
dazzle and dance on your shores.
I pad about your muddy marshes
Barefoot across moss encrusted rocks
A horse snorts and neighs
A boy bathes
Silhouetted against your silvery surface
Illuminated by the setting sun
Rays filtered by the clouds –
And then my heart leaps
I recall ‘he was here before me’,
Yes, you’ve embraced my son
See here, his footsteps on your shores.
Serene now in your morning slumber
Snow-capped peaks stand in prayer
Wisps of cloud stroke the pines
Beatles in chorus hold the silence
As the night’s rain soaks deep
All seems refreshed in your ancient hiding place.
Travelers pass by
Muscles strain under impossible loads
Their calls echo
Across the centuries
What many now know:
YOU are here to stay, it is US that will go ….
Namaste
Recent Comments