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Monday, March 7, 2011

Machu Picchu

By Neil Ellman

We have ascended so many times
These rocky paths above the clouds
Where condors capture the wind
And the sun swallows its own breath

We have carried so many stones
To build this fortress for posterity
A refuge from the bearded beasts
Who would consume us all in fire.

Between two worlds
The Urubamba beneath
The kingdom of the gods above
We kneel at the feet of the sun and moon.

Here where the valleys stretch
Like veins upon an ancient skin
Where the mountains are sentinels
We hold our stubborn ground.

Neil Ellman is a retired educator living and writing in New Jersey. He has published more than 200 poems in numerous national and international print and online journals, as well as in five chapbooks, the most recent of which is Mirrors of MirĂ³: Ekphrastic Reflections of the Art of Joan MirĂ³.

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