Himalayan Nettle [Villanelle]

The hardy Himalayan nettle stings.
It felt like punching piles of jellyfish. 
The slightest brush feels like a snapped bowstring.

But the balm of time bowstrings quickly bring.
The nettle's cure proved far more standoffish.
The hardy Himalayan nettle stings. 

Two days on, the nettle still sent its ping.
My hand numb like I'd fondled Fugu fish.
That slightest brush felt like a snapped bowstring.

I put my useless limb in a web sling. 
Not really, but it did hurt fiercely-ish.
That hardy Himalayan nettle stings.

Oh! of such agony Divas do sing.
Not really, but it was unpleasant-ish.
The slightest brush felt like a snapped bowstring.

Stabbed by roadside nettle in Darjeeling
is a fate upon no one I would wish.
The hardy Himalayan nettle stings.
The slightest brush feels like a snapped bowstring.

DAILY PHOTO: Red Pandas: In Action, Zoning Out, and At Rest

Taken in December of 2021 at the Padmaja Naidu Himalayan Zoological Park of Darjeeling

DAILY PHOTO: Kurseong

Taken in January of 2022 in Kurseong

Sea of Clouds [Haiku]

the plains below
the Himalayan foothills,
a sea of clouds

Himalayan Oasis [Haiku]

on the arid steppe
sits a green oasis -
patchwork fields

DAILY PHOTO: Himalayan Sand Dune

Taken in August of 2016 in Nubra Valley

POEM: Day’s End Dance


Patches of pink on army green —
the rhododendrons bloom.
In the hills of Himalaya —
gone the sad winter gloom.

Gone the weight of weary sinew —
the soul begins its float.
We feel the fire of shining skies
as we shed pack and coat.

The body, so still and silent —
nonetheless takes to dance.
The hike’s exhaustion falls away
and one tunes in the trance.

DAILY PHOTO: Kashmiri Tarns

Taken in August of 2016 on the Sonamarg – Naranag Trail.

DAILY PHOTO: Rocky Tops, GHNP

Taken in June of 2015 in Great Himalayan National Park

DAILY PHOTO: Nubra Valley

Taken in August of 2016 in Nubra Valley