Do the mountains touch the stars?
Tell me, child of the skylands,
how to balance on the glittering surface of time—
awakening the stillness,
transforming the silence
into answered prayer.
The snow leopard is found only in the mountains of Central Asia. Expanding populations in this harsh habitat compete for the same food sources. Although they are one of the least aggressive big cats, snow leopards kill livestock and are trapped in retaliation. They are also killed by poachers for their pelts and bones, which are used in traditional Chinese medicine. Only 5000-7000 remain in the wild.
Traditional cultures of their habitats consider the snow leopard to be a shapeshifter, a mountain spirit that serves as a guide between worlds. In Tibet they are sacred, existing as vessels to remove the sins of past lives. Anyone who kills one of these creatures is forced to take on the burden of those sins as their own.
They have huge paws and tails, which help them to balance on the snow in the rugged terrain of the mountains.
For earthweal, where Sherry has asked us to consider the earth’s dwindling populations of big cats.
K. 
This is so sad. Every day, another animal become extinct. The Snow leopard, a animal of legend. I pray we learn to be kind to nature and her creatures. Thank you for sharing the story and artwork.
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Thanks John. It’s already too late for far too many plants and animals, entire ecosystems. I don’t understand why people want to actively destroy what supports life. I too hope we can reverse directions and save what remains.
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Me too. But I am 1/2 Ojibwa. Old Native American saying. “When will the white man be happy? Will he be happy when all the trees are gone and all beautiful parts of earth is gone.”
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Never. Never satisfied.
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Lovely words and drawings, and thank you for sharing the legend. They are so beautiful, I can’t imagine anyone deliberately wanting to kill them.
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Thanks Merril. It’s a mystery, all this killing. (K)
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Yes, it is.
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Excellent drawings!
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Thanks!
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Your words capture the sacred in these animals. They are too big to cohabit with us, require too much space and we are frightened of beauty and power. Such a shame.
Whenever I hear ‘traditional Chinese medicine’ I wonder how the Chinese ever acquired their reputation for wisdom.
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Thanks Jane. Chinese medicine is a huge factor in the depletion of many species, and is probably responsible for spreading Covid-19. They don’t seem to understand where the magic of these creatures actually resides…
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One of my sisters often works in the Himalayan countries restoring ancient wall paintings and she has often got sick from accidents on scaffolding or just the insanitary conditions on the sites. Each time except for once, though China has been closer, she’s been carted, shipped and flown to India for treatment. China, she says is the pits. The hospital doctors despise and distrust ‘western’ medical science and prefer to use the ‘traditional’ junk that either has no effect or makes the condition worse. The one time she had no choice was when she was actually working in China and ended up having to be airlifted back to the UK after she was given a veterinary antibiotic and some herbal paste for a broken arm and an infection that almost killed her.
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I believe that. I have a relative who has been sucked into “natural” Chinese medicine. She has a long list of food she is not supposed to eat, but is perfectly willing to take potions made from endangered species.
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It’s charlatanism, pure and simple. That’s the only pure part of it.
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How I love the snow leopards……..endangered even more as the snow melts on the Himalayan peaks. We are watching so much being lost before our eyes. I love your poem which goes right to my heart with “Tell me, child of the skylands, / how to balance on the glittering surface of time—”
Sigh. I am so glad you wrote this beautiful poem for the prompt. The big cats have inspired some heartfelt poems this week.
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They are very inspiring and encompass so much of what is being lost through our neglect. Thanks Sherry.
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Your illustrations are stunning, they remind me of Rousseau’s tigers. Your words are a gentle whisper of a prayer for these beautiful and threatened creatures.
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Thanks Ingrid. They are such amazing animals, it’s hard not to be both inspired and in awe.
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Wonderful in all respects! I love snow leopards. My daughter Cat feels they are her totem. Your wordsand paintings here capture their mystique beautifully.
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Thanks Suzanne. What a beautiful totem to have! And it seems you named her appropriately.
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The poem could have been found as a prayer on an ancient landscape painting, scrolled with truth lost long ago. I loved the tiger paintings. Almost all wild animals are gone, become landscape paintings … Brendan
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Thanks Brendan. I’m afraid you’re correct that soon all we will have is representations of what was once alive. A poverty that money cannot fix.
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very informative post Kerfe …
I’ve seen two when I lived in the Himalayas … one big beautiful white one that ventured into the fields behind me when they were picking the tea in the plantation above, guessed he lived there. The other a very emaciated sick one, shot thru the head … so sad 😦
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Thanks Kate. You are lucky to have seen one in the wild. I do not understand why anyone would shoot such a wonderful animal.
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I did wonder if it was because it looked so sick …
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