Sunday February 22
*
A glimpse up
out across the open sky
to the 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 we two
our warm and bright
future day
and to her then to say
to tell of the steep climb up
looking close but a few feet before us
with steady careful steps
over snow covered rock
to turn out toward vast open space
limitless sky above
great arc of stone below
row upon row of crags
a great ampitheatre seventeen thousand feet
above the highest place on Earth
Look beautiful one
just before us on the mountainside
carved into the rocky face
a throne that has seen a millenia
It looks down upon the water
of a lake five hundred feet below
that tells to quiet trained compassionate mind
of the Dalai Lama’s next incarnation
into a troubled world
In 1933 Lhama Reting Rinpoche
Regent of the Land looked down as we
to see upon the Lhamo Lhatso
the letters Ah then Ka then Ma
a monastery with roof glinting turquoise and gold
and the fleeting image of a humble house
such as those that work the land
but such a roof of juniper
tree of shamans carved to let the water
return to earth in a way
most unusual
To Amdo the search party went
to return to Potala with the news
The Dalai Lama had returned
To the Land of Snows
For the place was Amdo
The monastery Kumbum
the house the place of birth
Thus had this lake this talisman
guided generations of those who sought
the leaders of this sacred land
Then down to it’s mirrored face
to walk the pilgrims route
to flashing colors in mountain wind
prayer flags stretched beneath the sky
in quiet homage to she whose altar
once stood here
the protectoress Shridevi
called Gyelmo Makzorma in this place
fierce of visage to ward off
the evils that overcome the mind
in action of warfare
Then to descend to Chokhorgyel
where the waters of Tepalung Chu
roar through the mountains’ pass
Three great peaks surround it
To the South Shridevi’s place is there
to the East Begtse makes his home
and to the North Zhidag’s abode
wondrous protector beings in their
awe inspiring houses of stone
There’s a monastery there
large in ruined magnificence
the second Dalai Lama once meditated there
to return again in incarnations hence
to reside there beneath Zhidag’s home
just beneath the firmament
on their trips to look upon
the sacred Lhamo Lhatso
Thence to a quiet place
just beyond the river’s roar
to rest in quiet stone housed village
with its roofs of shingle and thatch
to walk into the surrounding place
warm beneath the sun
with flowers all about
the Metoktang Plain of Flowers
all green and glowing
with uncountable flashes of color
and precious medicinals
and wonderful good tasting things
though magic alchemy
the sharp edged light
brought down to the sustenance
of beings that live here
All this not so wonderful
to my straining eyes
as your determined beauty
and swift uplifted grace
that endures with patient dignity
this that I see in you
on this cold afternoon
of our winter of necessity
Lotus blossoms rest
upon the window sill
and so we wait
two as one
we our effort
real and lasting
slight gentle
beautiful one
February 18
* courtesy of A Luminous Diamond (Bright) Crystal Show productions.
reference material for the poem is courtesy of the Footprint Tibet handbook by Gyurme Dorje.