Buddha Annapurna

There was already a full moon
And a snowy peak behind
Then you read from Buddha
Reminding all to be kind

Respect is key to happiness
Giving away leads to wealth
Think kind thoughts about others
To enjoy your own fine health

Simple truths from Gautama
About the middle way
Passed down through sutras
Seekers chanting each new day

I often wonder how it feels
To sit under a single tree
A seed a day towards enlightenment
The mind roams peaceful and free

In the village I wander
Maybe treading in his step
Humble confident and searching
To the others, offering help

They’ve walked this path
So many times now
With others much like you
Sandals or rubber boots
Packs filled unnecessarily

Donkey trains bring water jugs
Propane to the cook fires
Gee and haw along the trail
Simply follow the one in front
Who allegedly knows the way

Indeed lead mule walks simply
By intuition and repetition
And even muscle memory
Towards the sun in the morning
Downhill in afternoon

Do they call each other cousins?
Parents, friends or kin?
Or are they a collective without ego
Ritual or sin?

A collective hauling comfort
Up to rustic places
Nodding along with the rhythm
Not even bothered to
Glances backwards at your faces

She’s more powerful
Than I’ll ever be
Steely-eyed, determined
Striding confidently

Land a plane in Lukla
A jeep across Mustang plain
Light a village up with sunshine
Her magic fuse remains

Annapurna Sunrise

A sunrise isn’t just a sunrise
Each a unique event
The dawning a new circumstance
Unknown since yesterday

Sun glances off the glaciers
Bells on buffaloes provide the song
Your own personal time lapse
Just remember how to breathe

Jagged peaks like ripsaws
Loom over soft curved paddies
Village with rocky pathways
Laid down in olden days

Ridgeline too high for goats
Who would rather look away
Down valleys filled with grasses
Occasionally find a berry

Unaware of their varied fates
Living only for the now, knowing
Can’t control how long you live
Only your present tense

Each day
Lived in anger and greed?
Or fill each
with vast abundance?

Today is not a photograph
Or another dress rehearsal
For a foretold mystic afterlife
In which you are an exalted master

You are given gifts each day
Of beauty, challenge and hope
Hard times bring lessons
Unrequested by conscious self

The glowing dawn brings new noises
Into your tiny universe
Children resist cold washing
While Grandmas fill steel mugs

Buffalo and yaks are elder siblings
Calm, strong and helpful
Giving milk and fuel each day
To people, without expectation

Maybe you’ll bring them fresh hay
Maybe they’ll find some alone
Unimpressed by your shiny toys and colours
Needs kept more elemental
Warmth, food and rest
Content with two as an option

Each house climbs higher
Up the mountain slope
Precarious and sturdy
On each leans a chimney
Releasing pungent smoke

The humans slip outside
Tasks to do, Gods to please
Receive blessings of beauty
Tomorrow, clouds might roll back in
Savour while you are able

Cold water bath for each tiny kid
Strengthen them for future days
Aiding dreams of others
Serve all but not servant to none

Do not mistake diligence with complacency
Lo the free-flying hawks
Wings may appear the tools
The a clean mind does the flying

Simple kindness the underrated virtue
Honesty brings clear respect
Clockwise round the massif
Chanting all the while

Prayer bells go anti-counter-clockwise
Or is it the opposite?
Spin it wrong, good still comes
When done with the right intentions