Sunday May 9
*
A glimpse
up toward the span
to the leading light of my long day
slight gentle beautiful determined bright one
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 wisp of smoke
fragrant essence hovering above
the form of an incense burner
flowing out upon the breeze
above the flowers in courtyard of stone
in the temple
Buchu Sergyi Lhakhang
wafting up into the mountain sky
out over the waters where the Nyantri chu
flows into the Brahmaputra
From across the waters
rippling flickering beneath the sun
to where we quietly stand
Look beautiful one
out across the water to that golden roof
glowing beneath the mountain light
stunning to the eye
splendid to behold
though more than ten miles
from where the water laps up
upon the shore
Once it was not so quiet here
the milling of horses
the shouting and oaths
of their bedecked riders
silk banners whipping in the wind
murmuring within the yak cloth tents
above rough made leaves of paper
upon which there inscribed
the outlines of a Tadul Lhakhang
Border Taming Temple
that would hold the sacred land
beyond the reach of peril
King Songsten Gampo and his Queens
had come to bring about
construction of this place so wondrous
upon the very elbow
of she who sleeps
upon the high plateau
the ogress of Tibet
Block upon block it rose
to it's two stories
until figures poised upon the top
shielding their hands
with their bodies
from shifting winds caprice
held the leaves of thin hammered gold
above the Lhakhang’s sacred dome
to lightly fall then cling to place
to be burnished one by one
until finally resplendent
the dome reemerged to view
it’s wondrous glow
in answer to mountain height’s
icy finery
It’s deity protector
bound in oath to it’s sacred task
by Padmasambhava
sustained by life sustaining stone
that he struck with
his chakpur ritual dagger
it remains there as does it’s stone
carefully sealed in a case of glass
in the outer hall
yet here though more than a millenium
has come and gone
Still marked
with the piercing of the chakpur
that gave it shamanic power
Beyond the gate
around the walls
fifty prayer wheels stand
we'll give them a turn as we go by
within thousand upon thousand
copies of a single line
handwritten upon paper leaves
whirl to send their message
out into the vast mountain sky
a mantra of compassion
to bring help
to a world in torment
Padmasambhava brought this
to the land of snows
Yeshe Tsogyel perhaps it was her hand
that wrote the first of these lines
she whose gentle serious smile
like yours as beautiful as the
the rainbow of a stormy day
All this not so wonderful
to my straining eyes
as your determined beauty
and that gentle radiant smile
with 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 6
* courtesy of A Luminous Diamond (Bright) Crystal Show productions.
reference material for the poem is courtesy of the Footprint Tibet handbook by Gyurme Dorje.