Zeitgeistlyrik: Ring the Temple Bells (Satis Shroff)

We in Freiburg will also be doing the same with candles this evening at the Augustinerplatz (5pm) to remember the Nepalese and foreign visitors who lost their lives in Nepal due to the earthquake recently. May their souls rest in peace.
-- Creative City Freiburg / Satis Shroff

Zeitgeistlyrik:

RING THE TEMPLE BELLS (Satis Shroff)

Ring the temple bells of Pashupati,
The lifty Dharara tower is razed down,
A quake rages over Nepal.
The hungry tremor buries humans
As the soil parts,
Swallowing what lay above.

Ring the stupa gongs of Swayambhu,
Our memories are so treacherous,
For we've ignored the warnings,
Of a forthcoming disastrous quake.
A week hence the Swiss search-team,
Gives up its sniffing canine
Tail-waggling sleuths.
What remains is confounded decay
Of tourists and Nepalis,
Under piles of debris.
The Nepali Army digs still,
And saves the souls of some.

Ring the cloister bells of Tengboche,
Burn the incense sticks,
Offer tormas to the Buddhist and Hindu deities,
And pray in sonorous voices
To the Beings in Heaven.
Recite the Buddhist and Vedic mantras,
The Khumbu Icefall shakes,
Avalanches are on their way,
Cutting off the the adventurers above,
And the base camp below,
Studded with colourful tents.
A gigantic roar is heard,
As tons of ice, snow and stones
Sweep over climbers caught unawares.

Helicopters fly to and fro,
From Khumbu to Kathmandu,
To bring the rich alien climbers to safety.
Who flies the poor farmers
Caught in the craggy mountain villages?

Ring the bells in Shin gomba,
For Langtang is no more,
Buried in the scattered fragments,
Like scree at the end of a moraine.
A heavy toll of Nepalis and visitors,
Who came to admire,
The snowy peaks, woodlands, meadows
Of Langtang Lirung,
A trekker's paradise.

© satis shroff