The Wind Prays

Last night while I slept
I found a nightmare
A shadowed veil
On a peace fading
Tearful cries in the night

I saw a land crowned in snow
Peaks disappearing to the heavens
But below the earth is sinking
Lost and forgotten
Distantly slipping away

Chants whispered in secret
Monasteries long silent
Abandoned, destroyed
But some still pray alone
For a better life

I hear echoed wishes
In the wind sweeping o'er the sands
Sending a dance of color across the sky
As ragged flags blow
Quiet, but still calling

And the gusts finger at wheels on the hillside
Spinning, spinning with tears
They say each turn sends a new prayer to Buddha
The wind is chanting
Because the people cannot

They lost their voice long ago
Their tongues cut out and sent away
Forgetting the life they once had
They were content then
But with no hope greed spreads

But the earth between the mountains
Refuses to let go
The wind prays, I heard it
It will not be tamed by violence
As it whispers forever

"Om Mani Padme Hum"
While the wind spins the wheels
There's nightmare with hope
In the land crowned by mountains
Where the chants are alive.