ROOPKUND LAKE

In the Uttarakhand state of India
Thirty feet wide and six feet deep
A high altitude glacial lake exists
At the bottom of mountains steep
In 1942 a British Forest Guard
Stumbled on the lake and took a look
The lake had melted somewhat and exposed
And eerie sight
Skeletons were everywhere
The bones bleached pearly white

It certainly put the wind up him
And the authorities he told
And Britain sent a party out to check
Clearly not sold
On why or how this might have happened
First thought the Japanese
Escaping beaten by the cold
Who just fell on their knees

And perished in the icy weather
But on closer scrutiny
Found through examination
Of people’s actually
Seemingly represented
Asian types there too
And Greek and Cretian people
So they didn’t know what to do

A 16,500 feet one finds the troposphere
Clouds composed of Ice
Storms can break out suddenly
On the roll of a dice
And caught here without cover
With massive hail stones they
Could have been assaulted
By the climate of the day

It may be an answer
It could have Happened any time
Which might account for the differences
In ages and even reasoned rhyme
Being that the pilgrimages
Apparently that are
Carried out in the vicinity
People from near and far

Another thought of mine
Is one of burials
Hindu’s and Buddhists
Reincarnate and they
Transcend to living deeds impacting
Re-birth after death
Perhaps the way

Might be to a sky burial
To just leave The corpse out
Carried up the mountain
And what that is about
Is to be food for the vultures
Exposed there they would be
Valuable to nature
In the scheme of things
A key

Perhaps into another realm
Into Another way
Of pleasing gods and getting
A return ticket let’s say
Hidden by the permafrost
From most eyes that might be
The reason not that many pass
And so the mystery

Develops over time and
Really since 1942
All sorts of stories have come to light
In an area where they do
Make pilgrimage
Have water burials and sky burials too
And the hail does fall
To an extraordinary size
And that factor is true

Examination of the skulls
Proves injuries and they
Seemed likely something falling on them
So The experts say
Hail stones the size of golf balls
could really be the thing
The problem is no one is sure
And they won’t be until we bring

All the stories together
Perhaps more DNA
Carbon dating and whatever else
The mystery just may
Carry on developing
One day we surely will
Find out the truth thats hidden
Which apparently is still,
Unfathomable to experts
Nothings cut and dry
What Happens on a glacial lake
High up in the sky