Macchu Picchu Haikus
Walking stick strikes down
hard on this mountain high side-
walk. My legs need the help.
Zig-zag so slowly
up up up, hard to breathe.
Walking stick strikes down
hard on this mountain high side-
walk. My legs need the help.
Zig-zag so slowly
up up up, hard to breathe.
Up.
We go up some more.
High peak top we reach.
Up is done, the down to come.
Breathing is easier.
We ran part of it
and singing like the Incans
might have done—hurtlin’ down slope.
Down mountain runnin’ needs
Jedi skills: see the rocks down
and don’t even think.
Clouds crept in through, down,
under our camp—we saw them
cover up our heads.
High peak top we reach.
Up is done, the down to come.
Breathing is easier.
We ran part of it
and singing like the Incans
might have done—hurtlin’ down slope.
Down mountain runnin’ needs
Jedi skills: see the rocks down
and don’t even think.
Clouds crept in through, down,
under our camp—we saw them
cover up our heads.
Last day, early morn
Macchu Picchu golden sun-
rise shine down on me.
The Inca Trail is a gruelling trek along mountain trails, through cloud-forest and subtropical jungle and alpine tundra, and over Inca paving stones, It ends at Machu Picchu, 2430 meters above sea level. Jeremy writes a series of haiku (a traditioanl Japaneses form of poetry) to celebrate his journey. The usual English adaptation of the form is a three-line poem, with five syllables in the first and last lines and seven in the middle, but Jeremy only loosely follows the conventional format.
ReplyDeleteThe last one is my favourite. The line break between sun and rise creates all kinds of possibilities.
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