The spirit of mountains have enthralled us for millenia. A small local hill in a unkown town becomes its landmark casting its shadow from east and west to determine the life style of that town. People respect it, fear it and often attribute a spirit to it. Whether Fujiyama, Kilimanjaro, Vesuvius, Alps or the Himalayas they all inspire a sense of awe and arouse mystical wonder. The Himalayas are reckoned as the seat of the gods and mystics and Yogis meditate there in its caves, while the holy river Ganges flows from its bosom to water the vast expanses of North India. A land with mountains is dominated by their presence which shapes the lives of the inhabitants, their philosophy, culture, and way of life. Once on a visit to the Himalayas I was so overwhelmed by their magnificence, stately beauty and awesome presence that I conceived a poem as a tribute to their majesty and ethereal splendour which I would like to share with you:
O F M O U N T A I N S
Mountains sit and watch forever
In ranges, after all they are sentient beings;
Some lurch forward, others are contained
And drop one great rock after an eternity
In the only movement they know.
Mountains in motion are so slow
Like petals of flowers unfolding,
Plant and mineral in invisible motion
To our own fast forward mode,
More imperceptible even than their shadows
Shifting with the sun, forms and shapes
Watching our movements
Below their pensive profiles,
Holding us in stony thoughts millenia old;
But they grow like tallest Everest, hold
Crystals in their breasts and reefs of gold
And let precious waters in rivulets flow,
Or then their innards blow sky-high
As volcanos
In their only flowering,
Growing with the lava flow another shoulder,
Thigh or infant boulder,
Spreading against the sky expressions of ash
with rumbling roars,
Shaking the earth with their millennial spring
Before resuming their timeless chores
Of rocky meditations swathed in snow.
Beautiful, thank you for sharing.
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thanks wonderful to have appreciation must now visit your blog and discover a fellow soul! namaste
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Reblogged this on poetreecreations.org and commented:
love this poem
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Very evocative and beautifully expressed!
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thanks whoever i know or do not know lol
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Great poem. 😉
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makes my day when fellow intellectuals appreciate thanks.
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I like how you think. I takes a calmer mind than mine to savor the little things. 😉
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dont you believe it – my mind is not calm – but yes i do svaour the little and the big things both so far. lol
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😉 your blog and your writing is a pleasant surprise. You’ve traveled. So have I but I’d trade in my vacations to Jamaica, Acapulco and Cartagena Columbia (and British Columbia) for one to the Himalayas. I’d like to hear more.
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o the himalayas – what can i say – it sustains the souls of a thousand million people – it is so compassionate and tall and life giving – that is all i will say and so grand and magnificent – if you see it you can picture, say god?
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That’s why we write poems rather than try to explain these experiences righ? 😉 Artists and poets are funny souls. German expressionist Paul Klee visited Tunisia early in his short life and proclaimed he had become a “colorist” because of the influence the clear, dry atmosphere and colors of the terrain and buildings.
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As a poet you have the liberty to invent words – i have done that sometimes while the pc keeps saying gramatical error which i ‘ignore permanently’ – lol
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Invent? Tell Miriam Webster. I have an ESL purist friend that hassles me to tears about my word-smitheryisticalness <–underlined squiggly red
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Very evocative and beautifully expressed!
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thanks kuku – glad u r still following – from where/
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well with that word u invented i would too!
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Lovely poem
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thanks Vls?
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I moved to Switzerland two years ago and when I first went to the Alps I could not believe so much beauty was possible. Great poem!
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thanks – if i may humbly suggest with no undue Indian chauvanism, if you have not already come to see the Himalayas from Nepal – you will be transported into another world – when your sights lift from the poverty to the majestic heights of the Himalayas the abode of the snows – Him= snow Alaya means abode –
returning to our chats about astrology as an astrologist you need to know that one of the worlds greatest astrological events just took place in january when the Maha Kumbh festival attracted about 10 million indians at Allahabad the confluence of the Ganges and the Yamuna to take a holy dip to wash off their sins, called the largest pilgrimage, once in 12 years when Jupiter is ascendant in Aries and the Sun and the Moon are in Capricorn – mythologically it is the time that the gods or demi gods snatched the pithcer (Kumbh) of nectar from the Demons after the churning of the universe by them produced the pitcher of nectar, and while running away with it splashed a few drops on earth at places where people go to have their sacred river baths – the greatest religious and astrological event attracted an estimated 10 million persons (some say a 100 million) and several hundreds of thousands of tourists – i didnt go – maybe not that many sins to wash off lol – suggest you see the Maha Kumbh and the Jantar Mantar Observatories of Jaipur on the net – as an astrologer! Namste and good wishes with no desire to disturb your tranquility.
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Thank you, I will look them up on the net and hopefully visit one day in person.
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soon you may have no option – India calling lol Namste
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Beautiful! I can feel the mountains reading this.
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they always do – we are so smart with our fast movements – but they are like the sages quiet unmoving and all observing.
– incidentally we have a song to Sarasvati which school kids sing — so beautiful – one day i hope to share it with you – Adi Shankaracharya also composed one of the most beautiful odes to Sarasvati – that too later one day – Namaste and thanks.
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I look forward to them! Namaste!
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Thank you for sharing such wonderful imagery within your words! Mountains carry with them strength and beauty unsurpassed!
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ya thanks so encouraging – if you are in the vicinity of a mountain it can possess you.
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beautifully written hukum
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glad there is an appreciative community – khama
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Very beautiful, inspiring words.. Thank you.
Karen
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thankyou 2
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