All across the mountainous
and treacherous roads,
trucks and buses
haul passengers and goods,
automotive exteriors decorated
like moving shrines.

Roads drop and drift
as hidden tectonic plates
move and shift
but journeyers and drivers
forge ahead.
Even signs at road’s edge
bestow blessings
and encouragement:
“Safe travels”
and “In all things
there is something marvelous.”

Still another heavyladen
commuter bus proclaims:
“Jesus Is My Superhero”
while shouldering its human cargo—
one more journey
up and down
the steep and twisting roadcuts
of the shapeshifting Himalayas.