Nepal* Poem by elysabeth faslund

Sandstone talons etched your name, tested your ripeness,
Signaled to eagle-high ledges...
A foot rose, fell, and your soul was at one with the peak.
You became one with the mountain...
Did it become one with you...
Did you both journey higher, lower, or to the side.
Hard to hide a mountain, easy to cover a soul,
Until Eternity's dust settles...
Other mountains, other souls, waiting within the air.
Did you seek, along the path, a higher point...
Did it seek one further along the journey...shadows
Cast by the light.

Hard to move a mountain, easy to swallow a soul.
Can one swallow the mountain
Without moving the soul.
Joy. Resolve.
Celebration silence
Merging to dawn waves
Answering twilight questions.