Climbing the tower round
5 feet thick
1200 years old
and not a crack
Ladder by ladder
from the top
the land spreads out
beyond the monastery walls
A wild land threaded
with the paths of animals and pilgrims
maybe a donkey braying
murmur of the stream
A raven flying silently at eye-level
don't snap any pictures yet
what I am seeing
can so easily fade away
The breeze, how it blows so gently
is the same
as it was a thousand years ago
sweet with scent of blossoms.