Sunday November 21
*
A glimpse
to she of beautiful voice
the leading light of my long day
slight gentle beautiful determined bright one
patiently making her way
she 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 Yangtze Dri chu
as it flows south
below Derge
To twist within
the great cliffs
Southeast and then Southwest
Northwest then to Southeast again
as the water flows through
hard shining stone
in rivulets that run down from the home
of inhabitants of Horpo
in the kingdom of Derge
In a place where the Horpo chu
flows to meet the Dzin chu
they to flow to Dri chu
there the town is still
where once the fires coaxed
rivers of metal
into wondrous forms cunningly
wrought to please the eye and hand
Look beautiful one
up there a hill
shaped like a wondrous beast
a lion with eight feet
or for those
with a mind for script
the Tibetan letter Ka
scrolled as by a deity's hand
fashioned as an ornament
upon the prostrate form
of she who sleeps
upon the highest place on earth
There Katok Dorjeden stands
place of learning of Nyingma faith
scion of Yeshe Tsogyel Padmasmabhava
long ago in the land of snows
it was made in twelfth century
so long ago was it
that a Bon deity of troublesome mien
had to be locked within a boulder
before the first stone could be placed
but for Samye and the temples
of the Kings and Queens
it alone remains from the early days
when first the teachings of Lord Buddha
came to Tibet in the hands and heart
of the gentle wise and fearless
Wondrous from the first
this place on the lion hill
Katokpa Dampa Deshek presided
over the beginning of it’s lasting fame
to over a thousand branches
in all Tibet it gave rise
not by virtue of it’s size
but the wisdom and shamanic power alone
once a thousand students flew
upon their robes to another hilltop
Cloth hill it then became
and once Mani Ranchen of Katok
imbued with teaching of Guru Chowang
humbly built reliquaries
for the remains of first three Katokpa
then vanished into light
and upon a small trail
where the birds sing still
a footprint marks the spot
where once Yeshe Tsogyel Padmasambhava
walked to look upon this place
All this not so wonderful
to my straining eyes
as your gentle serious smile
as beautiful as the rainbow
on a stormy day
with determined beauty
and uplifted gentle dignity
that endures with patient grace
this that I see in you
beneath the open sky
on this morn
of our winter 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
November 17
* courtesy of A Luminous Diamond (Bright) Crystal Show productions.
reference material for the poem is courtesy of the Footprint Tibet handbook by Gyurme Dorje.