Dennis Spilchuk Poet Verse

Notes About The Poem

Himalayas

Himalayas

Eons ago in the planet’s evolution
During tectonic plate1 movement,
The Indian landmass Ma moved northward,
Crashing into the Eurasian continent
To form the Himalayan mountains.2

Out of the chaos, towering peaks arose,
Piercing heavenly soft, white cotton clouds,
Bursting into clear blue skies as Earth revolved
And orbited the sun in the cosmos
With Mount Everest,3 the highest above sea level.

Nature’s wondrous elevation to behold
Of precipices, passes, and summits;
Where overhead demoiselle cranes and bar-headed geese4
Fly north to breeding sites in China and Mongolia,
And south to wintering grounds in Tibet and India.

From here glaciers5 melt and mountain springs flow,
Functioning as a water tower for millions of people
And the source of Asia’s greatest, sacred rivers.6
Monsoon trade winds strike the “windward side,”
While the “rain shadow”7 engulfs the Tibetan Plateau.8

In this “abode of snow,” elusive leopards stalk,
Eking out survival on the lower slopes and cols.
Even-toed ungulates9 (tahrs and gorals)
Inhabit the mountains’ crags, crests, and ledges,
While griffons10 soar above, scavenging for fallen victims.
                                       ***

Notes:
1 225 million years ago, India (Ma) was a large island situated off the Australian coast. The continents crashed (Indian Plate and Eurasian Plate) 50 million years ago due to tectonic plate movement.
2 Himalaya: “Himalaya,” which means “abode of snow,” is derived from the Sanskrit language, which is one of the 22 official languages of India (hima: snow, alaya: dwelling).
3 Mount Everest (Sagarmatha in Nepali or Chomolungma in Tibetan): In 1865, Mount Everest was named after Sir George Everest (1790–1866), a British surveyor and geographer, and Surveyor General of India from 1830 to 1843. Mount Everest is the highest peak on Earth above sea level at 8,848 meters (29,029 feet). 
4 Bar-headed goose and the Demoiselle crane: The bar-headed goose and the Demoiselle crane are the highest-flying birds in the world. Both birds are able to fly over the Himalayas @ 29,000 feet, surpassed only by the Rüppell’s vulture of Africa @ 37,000 feet.
5 Third Pole: The “Third Pole” encompasses the Hindu Kush-Himalaya region and Tibetan Plateau. The Himalayas hold the largest concentration of ice and glaciers (fresh water) outside the northern and southern poles.
6 India: Ganges, Indus, and Brahmaputra rivers;
   South East Asia: Irrawaddy, Mekong, and Salween rivers;
   China: Yellow and Yangtze rivers.
7 Rain Shadow: The “windward side of the mountain” (aka rainward side) is the upwind side facing the prevailing winds and tends to get heavy precipitation. The “leeward side of the mountain” is downwind and is protected, and usually is warmer and drier. This phenomenon is referred to as a “rain shadow,” of which the Tibetan Plateau is an example. Monsoon rains discharge most of their precipitation on the windward (west) side of the Himalayas, thereby leaving the leeward (east) side arid.
8 Tibetan (Himalayan) Plateau: The Tibetan (Himalayan) Plateau is known as the “Roof of the World” and is the highest elevation plateau in the world.
9 Ungulate:  The term “ungulate” refers to any animal with hooves (a hoof is an enlarged toenail). Tahrs and gorals are species of mountain goats which belong to the Artiodactyla group of mammals, or even-toed ungulates.
10 Himalayan vulture (aka Himalayan griffon vulture): The “Himalayan vulture” is an Old World vulture that feeds exclusively on carrion.

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