Heavenly Lunch Poem by Daniel Trevelyn Joseph

On one edge of the Madhurai Lake
Under majestic granite precipice
We took out our lunch box
And lit a fire under the open noon sky.

We had Teachers’ Scotch Whisky
In paper cups, and bread fried on tawa
With a dozen boiled eggs,
And a big thermos flask full of tea.

At 13,000 feet above under the Himalayan sky,
Looking bluest of pure cerulean blue,
Clouds preening whitest of the white,
I have not enjoyed either a drink

Or food as much as I did there and then.
One cup slipped from my hand,
The plastic cup slipped I don’t know how,
Spoiling cuff and spilling on my left wrist.

Thereon I made the comment,
That Age will announce itself
Regardless of where we are,
And what we do...even in the Himalayas.