Elephant Walk: Chitwan
Daybreak: a world
cut into
thick cloud and
elephant grass.
We sit lurching
between the two.
Is that tree
or mountain at
the horizon?
Pistol pops nearby.
A mahout is cracking
the head of his steed.
Brown peacocks fly like
regal chickens
to a winter branch.
We argue about tracks.
I see a deer. Tiger she says.
So like our different views of life.
Driver spurs his gentle mount,
kicking at the great wall of ear.
Then his hooked
ankusa bids stop.
We don’t see the rhino but
a mark like three egg cups
tells he has been here.
And tiger too.
The brown man points
to a mud pudge
at the khaki river edge
the size of a child’s head.
Dawn’s earth cloud
renders distance
into a secret
this morning where
dun grass and birds
will soon color
after washing
by the sun.
I have to pee,
trapped on this moving
throne in this
cold damp splendor
and hope to
make it home
without loss.
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Stuart Freyer is a writer and poet living in Williamstown, Massachussetts, USA. For many years he was a surgeon and acupuncturist. A recent trip to Nepal touched him deeply, especially an early morning trek in the Chitwan Valley aboard an elephant. His stories have appeared in Colere, Zahir, Timber Creek Review and other magazines. His latest latest poem will be seen soon in Touch: The Journal of Healing. When not writing, he hikes, bicycles, and tries to improve his tango.
