CHHOGORI

CHHOGORI

Ah yes, my delta ice queen
of the Karakoram

case of love at first sight
moment you revealed yourself
in all your deadly beauty
and

now here I am
to present myself

be sprinkled across your summit
or down below
around your base

which will do for me
might have to suffice

and those kind enough
to have, brought me here
I do trust and pray
that you will
treat them sweetly

so many bodies frozen over
short, or far short,
of your pinnacle
       or caught in your
terrible shift
in mood during
the treachery of the descent

ghosts there too
unless wisps of snow, merely

adding to your voices for
what many envisage as
a cold eternity

praises, curses,
caught on those lips

last syllables uttered the iconic two
by which the world knows you
appreciates you
reveres you
              fears you

fatal number, fatal letter,
total expression of
your mystery
           abbreviated as sharp
as every angle
on your triangular, upward
soaring frame.