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Image: Mount Kinabalu (here)
My buddy Rahman is my guest poet on OLN, recounting his fondest moments
in conquering Malaysia's highest mountain. Rahman's earlier poems are (here) and (here)
in conquering Malaysia's highest mountain. Rahman's earlier poems are (here) and (here)
My Kinabalu climb
- many years ago
By dusk Sayat-Sayat
Camp 12,000 feet and a bit
Thighs a ton like now
Sprightly at 4,000
The guide laughed, eluded
His serpentine satire
By
five awakened
Surfeit
of silence
Refreshed
by dreams
To
climb climb climb
To
reach Low’s peak
Mocks
the morning sun
Among rosy blue mist
Thickly at top top finally,
Like the male seed
To ovary arrived
Muted, triumphant
A Trojan horse
A
gift given, fused
One
tiny heart tremulous.
It
could be you or me.
On a wee flat below
The peak, inside a steel bin
A record book, I wrote
My name with thoughts
Of a girl gentle, who prefer
My best friend for husband
In
the cold cold knapsack
A
Daphne du Maurier’s
Rebecca
reminds with
Lines
“…our Manderlay,
Secretive
and silent as
It
had always been”
When no one is
Watching the mountain
Is not there, only
Void, silent probability.
Now you…let there be
Because you…I love.
A
gift given, fused
One
tiny heart tremulous.
It
could be you or me.
Rahman Daud
2nd February 2014.
Written for Joe's hosting at d"Verse's OpenLinkNight week#131
Quite the climb it sounds indeed, secretive and silent too, oh what can come due
ReplyDeleteThere are lots of things to like here.. your lines about the girl preferring your friend the mountain .. is it there if you turn your back,,, sounds like quite a climb.. and I know that 12000 feet the height will affect you.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading this Hank. Wonderful words and your message coming over.
ReplyDeleteYvonne.
that next to last stanza on teh mountain not being there when no one is looking but let it be because of the love....my fav part for sure...thank you for the introduction hank...smiles.
ReplyDeleteWhat an amazing climb this must have been! I can't even imagine doing something like this.
ReplyDeleteA gift to climb and see that view ~ Your friend is a good writer Hank ~
ReplyDeleteHow gracious of you to post your friend's poem; what he said about the mountain not being there when no one is looking resonates with mountain watchers like me, living close to Mt. Rainier like I do; haze, clouds, weather hides it much of the time. We laugh & blame the mountain giants who take it away often, only bringing it back when the feel like it. Actually this is spiritual too, for looking at an atom under a 1000X electronic microscope, one only finds the nucleus when you are looking for it, like a green pea in the Super Dome; each atom being mostly empty space, each participant watcher a co-creator; cool.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed this very much, Hank, and, like Glenn, I know of a disappearing mountain in Washington State. I went out to the west coast at the end of January to visit a sick relative, and was delighted to see Mount Baker, which often "isn't there" — I used to have a house with a view of Mount Baker from the patio, but if I took a guest out to look at it, it might not be there.
ReplyDeleteK
wow... i have high respect for all those that are brave enough to climb a mountain...it's a big adventure and also helps to bring things that lie heavy on the soul into a new perspective as well
ReplyDeleteThis is so beautiful, and the perspective is simple WOW. Mountains that are there for us, but might not appear to others ... loved it :-)
ReplyDeleteOh my this must have been an amazing climb... I wish I could be so adventurous.
ReplyDeleteThat's quite a climb. Great treatment.
ReplyDeleteI am very impressed. I like mountain hikes but could never do climbs. I enjoyed the imagery (rosy blue mist) and the penultimate stanza is my favorite.
ReplyDelete"When no one is
ReplyDeleteWatching the mountain
Is not there, only
Void, silent probability." Wow!
"Surfeit of silence
ReplyDeleteRefreshed by dreams"-beautiful! And this was oh so powerful-"Like the male seed
To ovary arrived
Muted, triumphant" But my fav lines were,"In the cold cold knapsack
A Daphne du Maurier’s
Rebecca reminds with
Lines “…our Manderlay,
Secretive and silent as
It had always been”
Excellent writing!