Pisac
Plaintive notes of the pipe
Fill the theatre of ancient terraces
Cupped in the Andean mountain side.
Defensive stones, close bonded, multi faced,
Perfectly marry the mountain rock
Unshakeable.
Steps cling and twist,
Precipitous paths traverse,
Then dive through mountain fissures,
Close and tight.
An eagle turns below,
Tip-quivering grace in
Circles widening upwards
On invisible currents
Contour-funnelled.
And mountain gift,
In close chiselled troughs
The threads of water wind
To swell the city;
Its heart: rock encased in circling stone,
Spirit within the rock
Accepting sacrifice.
The dead, curled up once more,
Mummy to mother,
Repass the death canal
Into the mountain womb.
