(Written by Maeve O’Sullivan on the month long retreat with Donal Creedon and Ringu Tulku Rinpoche at the Bodhicharya Retreat Centre, January 2017)
waxing wolf moon lighting the road to our retreat
***
less cloudy today first sight of Kanchenjunga
***
thunderclap!
the new prayer flags
get their first blessing
***
walking meditation…
the cream-coloured butterfly
circles me twice
***
sitting practice –
a gust of wind sets
the yellow curtains dancing
***
mini prayer flags…
white stitching camouflaged
by the syllable ‘ma’
***
lunchtime salad:
the spring onion turns out to be
a hot green chilli!
***
more complaints
about the honey…
still the level goes down
***
steep ascent to the gate –
the only sounds the wind
and my beating heart
***
afternoon tea break…
strains of Bollywood music
floating uphill
***
sweeping steps –
her camera catches me
in a shaft of sunlight
***
early morning song
of a Himalayan bird:
‘I’m over here. Here!’
Dubliner Maeve O’Sullivan’s work has been widely published and anthologised for twenty years. Her collections poetry (Vocal Chords, 2014), are from Alba Publishing. www.twitter.com/maeveos
Maeve O’Sullivan’s new collection of haiku poetry, A Train Hurtles West, is available from the publisher, Alba Publishing (info@albapublishing.com). 30% of profits go to Ringu Tulku Rinpoche’s charity Rigul Trust (www.rigultrust.org). You can find Maeve on Twitter (@maeveos). Her blog post Why Haiku? is available here: bogmanscannon
Leave a Reply