Poetry Magazines - The best collection of poetry magazines online - Simon Armitage

around half a dozen squaddies hired what we termed, in 1952, a jalopy -
other adjectives had been freely employed, after several enquiries and
                                                                                                            failed
persuasions, we found a driver in downtown Colombo willing to take us up
                                                                                                      to the
hills for our first sight of the jungle. we were driven by this courteous
                                                                                                     gentleman
at stomach turning speed along narrow & tortuous tracks. finally he came
to a jolting halt in a clearing facing a temple set beneath an archway of
                                                                                                         tree;
here we were handed over to an elderly Buddhist priest in a saffron robe
                                                                                                        who
without word led us into a domed courtyard of peeling murals, at one end
                                                                                                           of
which smiled a giant Buddha wrought in brass; the chatter of monkeys,
                                                                                                  even our
breathing, was destined to become a distant irrelevance, the priest
                                                                                            continued to
say nothing, but merely waited for the silence:

christianity had not readied us for this