Within

“We’ve to travel; travel far and wide

to understand the essences of the world,”

he whispered with an arid smile.

“But what about the world within us,

where there are innumerable

elements to experience,”

she countered in a silken voice, 

and wiggled her eyes

in a bedroom with sweeping view

of the sacred hills.  

Yes, yes, yes, he stammered, smiled

and lifted her high in the air.

Their lips opened up as an umbrella.  

They rested for a while beneath it,

inhaling deep sap of the salubrious wind,

 then caressed each other,

word by word, line by line,

rhyme by rhyme as a poet, and sat together

 watching the snow tipped peaks

of their dreams across the horizon

without winking their animated eyes.

Their hands as their faith

stacked one atop the other.

Nepalese poet Bhuwan Thapaliya works as an economist and is the author of four poetry collections. His poems have been widely published in international magazines and journals such as Kritya, Foundling Review, FOLLY, WordCity Monthly, Poetry and Covid: A Project funded by the UK Arts and Humanities Research Council, University of Plymouth, and Nottingham Trent University, Trouvaille Review, Journal of Expressive Writing, Pendemics Literary Journal, Pandemic Magazine, The Poet, Valient Scribe, Strong Verse, Ponder Savant, International Times, Taj Mahal Review, Poetry Life and Times, VOICES (Education Project), Longfellow Literary Project, Poets Against the War, among many others. Thapaliya has read his poetry and attended seminars in venues around the world, including South Korea, India, the United States, Thailand, Cambodia, and Nepal.