Catastrophe~by Paul Lenzi

 

 

Catastrophe

Abstract Nepal Landscape from Pinterest

(Regarding the 2015 Nepal earthquake)

the roof of the world
gave a rippling shudder
where India violently crawls
underneath the resisting
plateau of Tibet
full of tectonic tension
its metamorph trusses
cried out in great pain
of their deep icy strain
from hard eons
spent seeking relief
by a thrusting up
higher and higher
stone peaks analgesic
and jagged and piercing
the billowing balm of
the wind and the clouds

the roof of the world
shook the sacred
liturgical Sanskrit devotions
the cultural mountains
of ritual tantra uniting
syncretic beliefs in this
towering borderland
bridging the heavens
and earth where divine
and profane swirl together
in cold philosophical mists
where the dead tumbled
under the ruins of temples
where Shiva and Buddha
share infinite flesh giving
promise of reincarnation

 

 

From my book Small Noise