Snow Leopard and Black Panther (for H.)

The musky incense of nag champa, was what led
the snow leopard to the black panther:
her lustrous smoothness, the scent and warmth
of her fur and skin – an uncharted territory.
The turquoise half-hidden behind his long eyelashes, lingering shadow of long eyelashes,
was what led the black panther to the snow leopard: his quiet prowess
and elegant strength – disarming, surreptitious beauty,
the most arresting stillness.
The snow leopard softly cocoons the black panther
with ripples of golden kisses: she did not know the reason why; nor
did the stars in her pantherine night sky.

Pacing in passionate vexation, behind the invisible bars in her eyes,
the black panther lays her gaze upon the snow leopard.
With such agitation, a prayer and a plea encircle
the black diamonds scattering amidst her dangerously soft leaps.
Those sun-embroidered lines of the snow leopard’s timeless form
embrace and penetrate like a metallic thread, glowing, illuminating:
A frozen motion, thoughtlessness in sehnsucht;
a mind within, a mind without. A mind of no mind.

What melts the black panther’s restlessness
is the motionlessness in the snow leopard’s glance beyond
(but is what she perceives as beyond
truly looking backward, or rather looking inward?) –

As they flow together and walk together in the ceaseless waves
of Mo Chhu’s deep sapphire, Po Chhu’s avalanche white,
they meet, without intention of direction.


The quiescence and mutuality of infinity.

*     *     *

Sehnsucht
(n.) “the inconsolable longing in the human heart for we know not what”; a yearning for a far, familiar, non-earthly land one can identify as one’s home. See also here.

~23^rd/July/2012

*English translation of the lyrics:

With every word,
with every smile,
with every look,
with every caress...

I approach the water
drinking your kiss,
the light of your face,
the light of your form.

To love you is a plea;
it's the song of a mute;
the look of a blind man;
a naked secret.

I surrender myself to your arms,
with fear and with calm;
a plea on my lips,
a plea in my soul.

With every word,
with every smile,
with every look,
with every caress...

I approach the fire,
and all that it burns;
the light of your face,
the light of your form.

To love you is a plea;
it's the song of a mute;
the look of a blind man;
a secret exposed.

I give myself to your arms,
with fear and with calm;
a plea on my lips,
a plea in my soul...