H
e a r t S o n s & H e a r t D a u g h t e r s of A l l e n G i n s
b e r g
N
a p a l m H e a l t h S p a : R e p o r t 2 0 1 4 : A r c h i
v e s E d i t i o n
CLIFF FYMAN
Lines Written
In A Remote Area Of Nepal
It's getting late in the trip
and though I don't want it to end I
do want to eat food I miss at odd
moments a crow circling
icy sky's temple pagoda
Melting snow
is tonight's drinking water
blank white
rectangle
shimmering far down
valley
is handmade paper
drying in watery light
In a nun's clean mud cell a blue
curtain casts a blue
light from
a snow sun. Sister Tsering
Chenjom says I remind
her of
her brother and I say
she reminds me of my sister
who likes to laugh is tender
toward me and
religious too
Will I ever return?
Sister asks. If I could.
No arguments here
only simple statements
like, "Please come to kitchen
and eat rice"
Everything sounds distant
8,000 feet in thin air
Children call to each other
through the blue
wind
Extinct trees
that used to grow here
are tiny bushes today
Rice won't grow
but potatoes will
I don't want to burden
anyone with my
questions
but be a man
who dives under ice
and surfaces with clear solutions
Hail!
is pelting my smiling
upturned face
Where do you go when you
feel sick
from events no one
can see or touch?
If
I
go into myself
all the way
where do I come out?
On Begu Mountain, today
[Originally
published in NHS 2008 http://www.poetspath.com/napalm/nhs08/Cliff_Fyman.htm.]