Inspired by a unique experience of transcendental nature years ago when I climbed the Sonmarg Glacier in Kashmir and was so lost in thoughts, over owed by the beauty of nature, that I did not notice how the time passed by, till they came looking for me...
At the Sonmarg Glacier
And then I began to climb the Glacier
Ice crunching under my feet
As I toiled upwards
My chilly limbs gathered heat
I began to sweat inside my tweeds
And the cold and frigid snow
Began to melt under my feet...
When I reached the summit
I turned and looked around
And sat down awe-stricken
On the frozen ground-
World was under my feet!
The sky was vast, clear and blue,
Blue, as blue can be,
The snow pure, pristine, white
The heavens above, the earth below
The majestic world glowed with pride...
The stars and the planets seemed closer
God himself seemed closer!
A feeling of elation seized me
I was on top of the world
Gripped with a strange sense of power...
Then a thought suddenly struck my mind:
If God was Nature,
Then I am just a
little cog in the wheel of Time-
An infinitesimal, minuscule speck
In the scheme of universe...
And I'd thought, I am the world!
'Till, I really saw the world...
And then I noticed the fountainhead-
the source of the mountain river-
gushing forth from beneath the ice
cutting and melting with its warmth
the massive mass of frigid ice
And the mass of ice actually moved
by the warmth of the ardent stream!
And I understood
The meaning of love-
The value of a loving heart:
If the warm, mallow and meandering river
Can melt a mass of frigidity-
Move it above the earth,
And flow out free down into the fields
To meet the mighty Ocean,
Why can't the coldest of the hearts,
Be moved by the power of passionate love?
Author: Zoya Zaidi
Aligarh (UP), India
Copyright©: Zoya Zaidi
Photo: Sonmarg, Kashmir, Indiahttp://www.kashmir-tourism.net/images/sonamarg-kashmir.jpg
Sonamarg means a meadow of gold. A tranquil valley set amongst glaciers and placid lakes, it has flower-laden meadows, panoramic views of the snow-covered Himalayan peaks and a number of trekking and hiking trails. Situated in the western part of the state of Jammu and Kashmir, it is set an altitude of 2740 m above sea level and is surrounded by the Himalayas. 80 km Srinagar, Sonamarg has alpine weather conditions with mild and pleasant summers...
Poetry by Zoya Zaidi
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Written on 2009-03-02 at 19:53
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