Sunday May 23
*
A glimpse toward steep climb
from the span to
leading light of my long day
slight gentle beautiful determined bright one
swiftly making her way
firmly alone firmly herself
to quietly remind me
that not so far away
for she I we two
our warm and bright
future day
and to her then to say to tell
of the great grassy plains
the craggy ranges
the coursing rivers
of Chuzi gangdruk
the Tibetan land of Kham
Far beneath six ranges
four rivers they flow
north from great Brahmaputra
the Nak chu the Salween from
the Dangla mountains comes
at it's heights the Tsonak
lake upon where snow
falls even in summertime
the Da chu the Mekong flows
from Tangula mountains
for 4350 kilometres 2700 miles
to its delta in Vietnam
The waters of Yangtze the Dra chu
then descend from the Dangla
and Kunlun the bulwark north
of the highest place on earth
The Yalong Dri chu flows
far from the north I know not
gentle one yet from whence it comes
to there we'll travel later
We stand now upon the plain
looking out from Nakchu city
before us the waters of Nakchu Salween
to our ears the sound and clamor
of festival in the distance
Look beautiful one there are tents there
blazing colours of blue and white
and other glowing hues
as big as houses standing proudly as
the Khampas Tibetans that live here
all bedecked in their finery
men with their chupas sleeved hooded robes
women with braids intertwined with amber
coral and zhi
For there's a horse festival here
where riders swoop down to grasp
the white katak scarf upon the ground
or shoot with bow swift through the sky
to a target swift in time
as the space between
one straining heart beat and the next
in erring aim
and dances of energy and life
where costumes create the spell
where by the heroic feats
of Ling Gesar
are recounted to the rapt thousand
upon thousand there
A place of flamboyance
and style
of courage and glowing smiles
in a land where though the land
more amenable to human life
still tests the spirit to highest degree
where the sudden blizzard can freeze
whole villages of people to leave sculptures
eerily standing in the spring
frozen in their saddles as when they left
their incarnation whilst seeking their herds
likewise perished
Where the P.L.A. the Chinese army
came first to encounter
a ferocious resistance
though futile indomitable in it's spirit
terrible the punishment upon it meted
fiery death from out of sky
Yet through all this a generous
expansiveness of view
left to their own way
despite their strife
between one tribe and the next
their choice that still all
great Tibetan faiths
unencumbered unrestrained
were practiced with ease
and richness here
and still the spirits
reach down here
to the shamans in their villages
they speak in voices not their own
in power do they say
Mi drupa midu
Pokyi shitsa sim go
there is nothing that can't be done
you must hold firm
to the roots
of Tibet
All this not so wonderful
to my straining eyes
as your determined beauty
and uplifted gentle dignity
that endures with patient grace
this that I see in you
beneath the open sky
on this mid afternoon
of our spring of working and waiting
Lotus blossoms rest
upon the window sill
and so we wait
two as one
we our effort
real and lasting
slight gentle
beautiful one
May 19
* courtesy of A Luminous Diamond (Bright) Crystal Show productions.
reference material for the poem is courtesy of the Footprint Tibet handbook by Gyurme Dorje.