On this cold winter night
I sit under the Himalayan sky
The night is dark and frosty
The silence is loud and wide.
Not a man in farthest sight
I can hear faint distant voices
Giving a feeling, someone is near
Though I know, nobody is here.
To give me company, I have but one
Big, stately, firm and very tall indeed
Spreading its arms open, far and wide
An old, gracious, giving walnut tree.
20 January 2015 at 10.30 pm. Mussoorie.