The Seafarer and the Hermit

The Seafarer

The fragrant summer breeze encapsulates the verdant valleys bringing forth, as it often does, a muffled whisper from the seas miles apart. But, there’s a pandemonium in my head that I hear no whisper even when it speeds past right through me. As the sun wearily traipses on the distant horizon, I realise that I’m waiting there for a special messenger from the seas.⁣

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The breeze tells me a tale of a seafarer. He was once a mighty king but relinquished his throne for his desire to sail far and beyond in search of glories he’d never found on land. He sailed on until his hair turned hoary and died by the shore. But the waves still crash on the shores today hoping to see him rise, pull the mast, and sail again.⁣

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And the whisper softens and it's heard no more. The breeze has gone up the mountains to fetch me another message. ⁣

The Hermit

I wait by the casement for the summer zephyr for I know it's mountains to fetch me another message. The seafarer's tale has left my heart in splinters but I've managed to piece them together just in time. Hush! I can hear my long-awaited guest arrive now.

He tells me a tale of a recluse seated with his eyes shut and lips muttering a prayer inside a dark cave tenanted by bats. He was once a feared bandit known far and wide for his notoriety. But, he saw his late father in this dream one night and he was never the same man again that morning since. With his eyes swimming in tears of repentance, he vowed to atone for all his sins and peccadilloes. A hermit then he chose to become and followed the Buddha's path until he breathed his last.

~To all the Apas for their Light.

Did you ever know that?

Your capricious habit 

often disconcerts me 

and I know not 

what to make of you. 

You are a bolt 

that takes me by surprise 

and a lightning 

that disappears in a flash, 

leaving me in utter disbelief. 

You glide along 

with the fragrant summer breeze 

and visit the peasants 

with showers of joy. 

And I see you 

as the kindest of all. 

But, you can be wrathful too. 

And in winter, you come 

in light fluffy flakes, 

and people, young and old, 

rejoice in your coming. 

Oh, Weather! You know they love you, right? 

Butterfly

Courtesy: Mani Wangdi, Teacher, Samtse LSS

I wish I were a butterfly exquisitely embellished in emerald, blue, red and mustard colours. I’d flap my wondrous wings in the summer zephyr and flutter freely under the sky lapis lazuli. I’d tease and kiss the peasants with dreamy eyes. I’d perch on a lonely scarecrow and give him a warmest hug. I’d be at lovers’ biddings with my slow, swift flight and stir sweet emotions in their hearts. I’d entice the poets with my mazy motions and bewilder the fools with my caresses. I’d eavesdrop on Heaven’s door and smile heartily because I’d then harbour a secret that no one else will ever get to know. I’d fall in love for a disarming daffodil and I’d love so much enough to let it go. And when all said and done, I’d be a butterfly reckoned to be the warmest of all.