The Hitching Post of the Sun

 The Hitching Post of the Sun

 

Oh with what delight I wander the mountains of my mind

 Wings outspread on the thermals of Andean peaks

     Clawing the sky

        Shredding clouds

      Swooping, looping whooping

 In the joy of life

Above places of ancient ceremony,

 Astronomy,

      Sacrifice,

      History;

    Where masons locked together fine-cut stone,

 Cut for loving intimacy,

                 +

 Where they terraced hillsides,

Channelling natural springs

   To sing the heart-song of the Incas

       Whose plantings still survive.

 

       Here, inviolable, untouched by Spanish invader

   Standing, beyond the reach of

  Scavenging soldier,

 Purloining priest – evangelist of death,

    The Legendary City,

       Of Macchu Picchu

              +

   High over it

Floats,

Hovers,

   Rides and swoops

          In magnificence of nature,

              On gravity defying radii                  

                     The Condor,

               Whose spreading,

           Feathered frame

     My dreams inhabit,

 +

     While lesser mortals ride only 

            A crawling,

                          hairpinned,

                                    Earthbound,

                                 Tourist

                              Bus

                         Which wends its weary way

               Upwards,

           To

                Release ants with cameras

              Flashing at aeons of Andean rock.

                    Do they know, I wonder

              That the sun has flashed

        Nay, hitched

                 Equinoctially to Intihuatana,

        To the very stone

Upon which their feeble,

         Flickering

                Lights will reveal

                       Their great Andean adventure to

                                   Bored

                                      Stay-at-home friends?

                       GO! - - - SHOO!  - - -Get back in your ant carriers,

            Ride back on your noisy bus

     Down the disfiguring scar

 Carved now and forever on a once beautiful mountain. 

     As the sun sinks behind Pumasillo. 

          Get you gone - ere the Puma's claw descends upon you,

                   Leave this most sacred mountain

                               To the dark, star-escent Andean might

 

                       While from this Condor’s nesting site,

                          Our spirits guard the high places.

 

 

Recommended reading:

The Heights of Macchu Picchu   Pablo Neruda. Cape Poetry Paperbacks

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Macchu Picchu is sometimes spelt with a single c in Macchu. Picchu always has two.

 

One of Machu Picchu's primary functions was that of astronomical observatory. The Intihuatana stone (meaning 'Hitching Post of the Sun') has been shown to be a precise indicator of the date of the two equinoxes and other significant celestial periods. The Intihuatana (also called the Saywa or Sukhanka stone) is designed to hitch the sun at the two equinoxes, not at the solstice (as is stated in some tourist literature and new-age books). At midday on March 21st and September 21st, the sun stands almost directly above the pillar, creating no shadow at all. At this precise moment the sun "sits with all his might upon the pillar" and is for a moment "tied" to the rock. At these periods, the Incas held ceremonies at the stone in which they "tied the sun" to halt its northward movement in the sky. There is also an Intihuatana alignment with the December solstice (the summer solstice of the southern hemisphere), when at sunset the sun sinks behind Pumasillo (the Puma's claw), the most sacred mountain of the western Vilcabamba range, but the shrine itself is primarily equinoctial.

Reviews

[Fabian G. Franklin]

This is FABULOUS! Five star writing here my friend! I have read some of Pablo's writing. He has a very warm and personal style that transmits through all his writing; an endearing commodity to be sure. He deserves his place of respect in the literary world. I like very much that you give some deeper insight into the meanings of the poem with a post text, it helps bring the words to life. But the words, they way they fall and flow here can stand on their own merit, a personal favorite. Great work.

[Emily B]

oh, I felt like I was flying. It is a widely known secret that sometimes I straggle in late to work cause I've gone driving up the nearest hills. It is as near as I can get to feeling like that condor I believe.

[Hanan_Maliah]

I am indeed overjoyed that I decided to return the favor and read your writings...this is a masterpiece! I love to be pulled into it...the body of a work! Thank you for the journey!