Illusory Dreams of Zanzikar

In Zanzikar she makes her way along the road of crippling need
and wanders through the clouds that swathe her midnight hour
She's seeking solace from the seed that dwells within the deepest core
of legend’s sacred healing balm
blue lotus flower
prized in ancient Amchi healing lore

Her veiled eyes attempt to reach past shrouding mists that block her path
Forsaken gods she does beseech their aid
Hearing the echo of their laugh, she twists and turns with every hour
and vainly hopes that she might find
some restful glade
or finally stumble ‘cross the fabled flower

Her mind’s unhinged by all the noise created by an endless war with pain
that constantly destroys her equanimity
and desperately trying to ignore this thief that comes to steal her power
She stubbornly treads her paths and peaks
in agony
Searching for the wondrous lotus flower

But misty clouds and paths and peaks and gods that laugh behind a veil
deny the solace that she seeks
then in her sleep she screams - her vision now begins to pale
the lotus blue she can’t attain - she just can't find
that sacred seed
Illusory dreams of Zanzikar do not numb her pain

Between the minutes between the hours these trancelike wanderings bring no rest
her never-ending search devours the night
She shivers in her sleep distressed then out from in her dream she’s brought
in front behind - the thief he’s there
She wakes in fright
Like a hunted beast she has been caught

Here in the strange world of her dreams each night on shards of shattered thought
her journey to this place is misery not mystery
Asleep awake she is distraught - A lotus seed? A healing hand?
She fears her quest will find no ease
suspects it's all illusory
But hope still takes her nightly to that land.

Zannie Sheridan 2007

The Zanskar (sometimes spelled Zanzikar) Gorge, which has almost vertical cliffs of up to 600 metres in height, is in Kashmir. The river of the same name is a tributary of the Indus.
The river, when frozen in winter, provides an access to the remote Zanskar Valley.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zanskar_Gorge

No lotus flowers grow in Tibet. They are prized for their healing ability and reputed to induce euphoria. The blue lotus symbolises the supremacy of the spirit over the senses. http://www.religionfacts.com/buddhism/symbols/lotus.htm

Amchi are healers who practise holistic medicine. They begin their training at an early age, and the secrets are passed from teacher to student, most often in a familial pattern. Amchi have practiced throughout remote Himalayan communities for centuries. http://www.drokpa.org/haa.htm