a tortoise swallowed a mountain
having thought that the mountain was slow and steady
like her good self
the tortoise was shocked to discover
that many hidden things go on in mountains
this particular mountain was in eight parts
it seemed to the tortoise who was learned in mathematics
that it was an infinity of mountain
because on every slope in every ravine
on peaks and in the deepest caves
there were multitudes of mountains inside mountains
each of these contained yet more mountains
in fractal form
not only that but each of these multitudinous mountains
hosted different kinds of creatures
in one a small girl played with a ball
in another a man curled like a ball his eyes blinded by some unknown disease
in yet another a mouse crawled up the rocky slope
a rope climber without a rope
a cloud hung over another mountain in conversation with trees
and there was more much more
but by now the venerable tortoise was getting bored
and regurgitated the lot
she deposited this ball on the peak of the nearest mountain
and let it roll
Note
The word giri in Sanskrit has many meanings – among them a hill, a rock, a mouse, a cloud and a chain or mountains – and these meanings are the source of this poem. The dictionary is a marvelous source of associative thinking.
