Let me help you with that parcel –
‘Poetry’ you say?
My but it’s so heavy –
Twenty-one centuries?
Surely far more!
Where are you taking your
Parcel of rogues?
To be delivered?
If you don’t mind me asking
Are you sure of the address?
I remember when
Some shady people lived there
But here in Tibet
Our postmen grow weary
They lose their breath
‘Altitude sickness’ you guess?
After a day-long climb
They have been known to tip
Their remaining post-bag ‘excess’
Down a ravine
This happened to Odette Tchernine
‘The Yeti Expert’ –
From her tiny flat in Notting Hill
Half her forward correspondence
‘Vanished’ ‘in a mist’ –
‘Yet perhaps The Yeti read it’ her friend
John Heath-Stubbs surmised –
Tibetan Buddhism believes
The Yeti is able to follow the Dharma
To guard against evil spirits –
There are stories of Yeti helpers
And disciples of Buddhist saints –
John Heath-Stubbs the noble
Blind and bear-like folklorist affirms it
Then perhaps the postman grew
So tired and wordless carrying words
He fell into enlightenment
As you are doing now
Gazing on the Galsang flower in bloom
An aster which translates as
‘The Flower of Happiness’
Close to the Himalayan snowline
Also may be found
Snow Lotus locals call
‘The Flower of Heaven’
.
Bernard Saint
Illustration: Claire Palmer
.