Musical Accompaniment:
When i awoke my tracks were covered in a foot of freshly
fallen snow
The morning sun shone through the trees and the frozen forest
was aglow
A gentle breeze came from the south and the boughs swayed to
and fro
And I broke camp and headed off, though I knew not which way
to go
A ten hour trek brought me up to the summit of the world
The clouds were all below me, around the lonely peaks they curled
The wind rose up the slope, the snowflakes scattered, danced
and swirled
And I planted my banner beside the others, colorful and
unfurled
The walk back down was lonely and I sang a song to pass the
time
The tune was a just simple one and the language was not mine
When I reached the bottom of the mountain, I dove back into
the pine
And contemplated my adventure to reach the enlightened and
sublime
Had I achieved my goal? My thoughts had begged the question
Petitio principii
so goes the old expression
For years I had been searching, this was now somewhat an
obsession
The view from the top had left behind a rather great
impression
But I was disappointed, it wasn’t quite what I expected
My moment of nirvāṇa
had left me unaffected
Then suddenly it hit me and in my tracks I stood corrected
The answer lay not at the apex but was with everything
connected
In the end it wasn’t the teachings or the training or anything
I’d read
It was the love I’d shared with those I’d known, the life which
I had led
It was the feeling and emotions, the words all left unsaid
It was the logic and the reason, the thoughts in my own head
So I lay me down upon the soft white snowy ground
And starred out longingly as the trees and stars all
gathered round
I was sure that after time my shell would eventually be
found
But my soul would long be gone, perpetually unbound
For so very long I’d been repeating life era after era
But that glorious winter
day was when I finally left Saṃsāra
