Sera Utsé Hermitage
TranslationsSera Utsé Hermitage
One spring day at dusk
we walked from the Sera Utsé Hermitage
down the mountain
behind the Monastery of Wild Roses—
high and precipitous, overgrown with thorny tendrils
that in a few days would burst into bloom,
a few caves carved in its side for practicing nuns.
There was not enough time to visit them all,
but we offered our hearts of respect,
stood at the mouth of one cave,
almost all of Lhasa spread before our eyes.
A nun who had suffered imprisonment, said with indifference:
“Now each night Lhasa dazzles with light,
yet all living things, none of them safe…”
—Tsering Woeser
(translated by Ian Boyden)
Constellations of Humanity
Each luminous dot on this map represents one reader of this poem. As the number of readers increases, the stars begin to cluster and form an increasingly detailed constellation. My intent is to show how brightly a poem glows across our world. I welcome your light.
