The Slit in the Window

 


                                                                                     

It was upon a garden-tea,

I’d spent a few days lone,

Me, Kanchenjunga, and

The Universe unknown

 

For hours in my cottage small,

I’d stare at spotless skies,

The massif draped in white of snow,

Unbothered by our lies

 

And all around, the garden grew

In camellia’s waves of green,

Winter’s cherry snuck in pink,

How colourful had it been!

 

Perfect was it, excepting for

A draft that blew in free,

From a slit within a window pane

That closed not completely

 

An ever-present companion,

It was all chilling-cold,

In silver, hung an icicle

Upon my days of gold

 

You could press the window all you could

But the slit would still remain,

The perfect views disturbed with

A draft of winter’s bane

 

I would often wonder in those days

In evening’s alpenglow,

Why the mountains gifted eternity

With a niggling wind of woe

 

The answer – as with most of life

Came not when you’d ask,

Dawn’s questions had to swell

For epiphany in the dusk

 

Months had passed, I had moved on

To days of exile far,

Beleaguered, one day, I looked above

Praying to a southern star

 

A breeze passed by, a draft of cold

And the first thought in the mind

Were the painted mountains faraway

From days left long behind

 

Could you ever ask for a better salve

Peace for minds all frayed,

The mountain memories calming you

Guiding those who strayed

 

And every time, a draft passed by

In summer, autumn’s way

A calming memory rose again

From a winter mountain’s day

 

I can only smile at the tricks of life

That often seem insane ,

Teaching why imperfection stays

Through a slit in a window pane…

 

1st September’2024

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