here [Explored] - a photo on Flickriver

here [Explored]

                                             Here in Kathmandu

We have climbed the mountain. 
There's nothing more to do. 
It is terrible to come down 
To the valley 
Where, amidst many flowers, 
One thinks of snow, 

As formerly, amidst snow, 
Climbing the mountain, 
One thought of flowers, 
Tremulous, ruddy with dew, 
In the valley. 
One caught their scent coming down. 

It is difficult to adjust, once down, 
To the absence of snow. 
Clear days, from the valley, 
One looks up at the mountain. 
What else is there to do? 
Prayer wheels, flowers! 

Let the flowers 
Fade, the prayer wheels run down. 
What have they to do 
With us who have stood atop the snow 
Atop the mountain, 
Flags seen from the valley? 

It might be possible to live in the valley, 
To bury oneself among flowers, 
If one could forget the mountain, 
How, never once looking down, 
Stiff, blinded with snow, 
One knew what to do. 

Meanwhile it is not easy here in Kathmandu,
Especially when to the valley 
That wind which means snow 
Elsewhere, but here means flowers, 
Comes down, 
As soon it must, from the mountain. 
------Donald Justice
   

Taken on: June 25, 2015

Tags:

memory

change

paradox

grace

Donald Justice

mountain

metaphor

I used to have this poem memorized when I was a teenager

snow

threshold

winter

remembrance « less

Sets appears in: • poetry and poets • hope more » • enchanted • repetition and patterns • landscapes • landscape format • my favorite things • most interesting • images and words together • 2010 • favorites • blessings and prayers • cool tones • memorable days • gratitude • the wheel of the year • for shows? • agents of healing and comfort • grace • contrast • snow and ice • over 500 views • 50 plus favorites • weather • Burnt Mountain overlooks • mountains and hills • holiday card choices • the spirit of the season • magical and otherworldly • painterly • winter • Around Jasper • abstracts (more or less) • Woods and forest « less

Groups appears in: • North Georgia Mountains

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