First Sight of the Himalayas
(Kurseong; 1904)
I had slept badly, for some favourite toy
Lost in the garden would not leave my mind;
And I had hurried out at dawn to find
That missing plaything.
Mine would be the joy
Of quest and of recovery. The air
Still held the scent of night; the deodars
Raised their black arms towards the paling stars,
And the long curved horizon was still bare
Of the heat-mists of day. By chance I turned
Towards the north... and instantly my gaze
Engulfed my other senses!
For my eyes,
Above the clustered cloud-banks, had discerned,
Red-golden in the sun's first probing rays,
The tiered Roof of the World against the skies.
(from "Worlds in a Crucible" 1973)