A journey through Khumbu
A cornucopia of delights
Pain alloyed with pleasure
Bask in mountains of might.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It will make you cry with exhaustion
Awe, fear, and surprise
But the ant trail to Base Camp
Makes weary fresh eyes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Your room is a fridge
The sun a tanning lamp
The wind chills to bone
But with luck you don’t camp.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A fish out of water
Is any human up so high
Save for the mighty Sherpa
Lifting kilos to the sky.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Cut off from the world
We find peace and tranquility
Friends made through these trials
Stay shackled for a century.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Weeks can go by
Without seeing bees, trees, or flowers,
I hesitate to remember
How long I went without a shower.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Death, frostbite and injury
Lay just around the corner
But accomplishments done alone
Make for memory that much warmer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
To the Khumbu we come
In gaggles, flocks, and droves
Yet to Cho Oyu I look –
Everest is so faux.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With a final resounding cry
I struggle up a pass
Wondering, as I slip,
If this day will be my last.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But face danger we must
To make for great things
The civilisation we live in
Was not built by meeklings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As I stand on the peak
Watch white pillows pass below
The eight thousands glow red
With twilight sun on the snow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And should I be left listless
With no higher to climb?
At least, my budget won’t stretch
To Aconcagua next time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the harsh valley of the Yeti
I sit and meditate
Let the years of raw trauma
Drift off of my plate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The cynic within me
Dies a soft death
With each gasp for more oxygen
Every calm and controlled breath.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In sweat we must pay
Not dollars or pounds
Here, ten crore rupees
Will only buy you the helicopter down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I end with a prayer
For all the lost souls
Who do not see the magic
That the world can behold.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
To the Khumbu I left
With the weight of a rucksack
I return with a blessing
And nothing on my back.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Photograph by Sarah A.<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A journey through Khumbu \/\/
\nA cornucopia of delights \/\/
\nPain alloyed with pleasure \/\/
\nBask in mountains of might.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":578,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[127,144],"tags":[130,133,132,131,135,134],"class_list":["post-576","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-fiction","category-poetry","tag-himalaya","tag-meditation","tag-poem","tag-trek","tag-everest","tag-khumbu","entry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/oliveribanks.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/576","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/oliveribanks.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/oliveribanks.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oliveribanks.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oliveribanks.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=576"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/oliveribanks.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/576\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":581,"href":"https:\/\/oliveribanks.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/576\/revisions\/581"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oliveribanks.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/578"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/oliveribanks.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=576"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oliveribanks.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=576"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oliveribanks.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=576"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}