It’s not too late 

“I could tell the color
 of her lipstick 
just by feeling the wind. 
Now I can taste nothing,”
this is what my uncle told me
when I called him to inquire
 about his coronavirus recovery.
I said don’t worry, 
you will be fine soon
and hung up the phone.
After few days I went 
to see him in person. 
It was raining hard 
and the water was tapping
into a round plastic wash basin
outside his terrace. 
Sunken eyes, pale 
and wrinkled forehead,
at first glance he appeared
to have hopped
 into the skin of his father.
“How are you feeling now,” I asked.
“I’m melting each day 
as the Khumbu Glacier.
 My hearts heritage can’t 
 be reassembled now,” he said 
without lifting his head.
There were dirges in his voice,
reminded me of my grandfather
smoking in the dark,
weeks before he died.
I said nothing. 
I just stood up 
and went to the window 
and watched the street
 turned into river 
and people wading
through waist- deep waters.
It’s not too late, 
I said to myself.
I turned around
and took a step
and another again.
Finally, he smiled 
after twenty four days.
Coming October, 
we’re planning a trek 
to the Mount Everest Base Camp
and may be in a year or two
we may be on the top of the world.
Who knows?

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Bhuwan Thapaliya is a poet writing in English from Kathmandu, Nepal. He works as an economist and is the author of four poetry collections. His poems have been published in Pendemics Literary Journal, Trouvaille Review, WordCity Literary Journal, Life in Quarantine: Witnessing Global Pandemic Initiative(Witnessing Global Pandemic is an initiative sponsored by the Poetic Media Lab and the Center for Spatial and Textual Analysis at Stanford University), International Human Rights Art Festival, Poetry and Covid: A Project funded by the UK Arts and Humanities Research Council, University of Plymouth, and Nottingham Trent University, Pandemic Magazine, The Poet,  Valient Scribe, Strong Verse, Jerry Jazz Musician, VOICES ( Education Project), Longfellow Literary Project, Poets Against the War among many others. Thapaliya has read his poetry and attended seminars in venues around the world, including South Korea, India, the United States, Thailand, Cambodia, and Nepal.

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