Frothing waters dance and spin.
Flip in abundance rainbow fins.
Reach out bridges, span the blues,
colors of water, lakes and hues.
Heady saunter on windy tracks.
Crumpled shirts and slept in slacks.
Trills and tweets of mountain thrush,
waft across valleys to pause the hush.
Brooks gush and gurgle by hewn stairs.
Drive by smiling, beaming, happy pairs.
Clinging fronds along lingering snows.
Nervous barks of pregnant does.

Occasional rat a tat of random fire.
Stark reminder to a stacked up pyre.
For ages clutched by tangle of roots.
Dislodged now with thump of boots.
Boulders hurtle; mill shale to sands.
Avalanches march to tune of bands.
Distant whine intrudes rustle of pines
Lone a soldier under an outcrop dines
Ages passed in these tranquil dales.
Now often rent with echoing wails.
Streams and bluffs clutched by hands,
hid in bunkers under conifer stands.


original
saadat tahir
21^st April, 2k13
Islamabad.

Exegesis:
Ruminations from a recent trip to Neelum valley in Pakistan side of Kashmir.
The mix of heavenly pristine snow bound beauty and mil-fatigues is unnerving and painful.
Rainbow fins = Rainbow trout.
Bridges = Suspension bridges so common in Neelum valley.
Clutched by hands = Armies of Pakistan and India eye balling each other meters away.
Thump of boots = Peppered mil posts across snow bound cliffs.
Distant whine = Revving 4x4 vehicles laboring steep slopes.