Leh Poem by Bijay Kant Dubey

Leh-
If somebody could tell me,
How far Leh Ladakh?
How the places
Leh and Ladakh,
How the people of,
How the climate, food habit,
Costume and culture
Of the people,
Local hilly people?
If somebody could tell me
How far Leh Ladakh,
How the place,
The sights and scenery of it,
The panorama of Nature?

I know
I shall not be able to visit
Those fringes,
The far off Himalayan sector
Touching Tibet, China and far,
Had I been to,
I could have at least the Ladakhi daughters,
The Buddhist monasteries
And the Chinese lands
From the borders running in between
Remembering
How did the Chinese travelers in the past,
Fa Hien and Hiuen Tsang,
How did many of them could travel
To Bodh Gaya?

Come some day
And suppose that by chance if meet I
The military men
Or the migrant road labourers
Or the truckers,
I shall definitely
About them,
About them
Living in Leh Ladakh,
How their tongue and food habit,
How their culture!