Red flowers still bloom in the rubble,

Broken pottery under fallen roof.

Prayer flags still wave between trees newly slanted.

All the homes in Yolmo are flattened and so many villagers have died,

But miraculously all the nuns survived, taking shelter under tarps with the villagers.

Rain, thundershowers and cold nights come instead of help.

Although the roads to Yolmo are gone, replaced by landslides,

Red lilies continue to bloom in the rubble

And the bent trees still whisper the familiar prayer:

   “Guru Rinpoche, Buddha of the three times,

   Lord of all siddhis, embodiment of great bliss,

   Dispeller of all obstacles, wrathful tamer of Mara,

   We supplicate you. Please grant your blessings

   That outer, inner and secret obstacles be pacified

   And our wishes spontaneously accomplished.”

Meanwhile a dusty hand begins to emerge from a concrete slab in Kathmandu,

And a teenage boy named Pemba,

Buried for five days between floors of a seven storey building,

Is pulled out alive, his eyes blinking in the sunlight.

Written five days after the April 25, 2015 earthquake shattered Nepal,

                                    by Linda V. Lewis, Jinpai Pema.

Author: Linda Lewis

Editor: Caroline Beaton

Photo: Google images for reuse