The Cool, Grey Valley of Love ((the Mantaro Valley of Peru)(a poem & commentry))

The Cool, Grey Valley of Love

(Dedicated for: the Mantaro Valley of Peru)

By Dennis L. Siluk (1-12-2009)

Tho I die in a distant land,

give me a grave in that sand

Carry me thru the Grey Valley of Love

Bury me deep, with her grace and forgiveness!

For surely I will not rest

Far-off from her imposing breast;

she is much fairer than others be

whom songs of beauty are sung:

Her spirit is a chant and a star—you see,

the cool, grey valley of love.

Tho they slash the life from her crown,

to her is ever my days:

That I to her, give my task—

first with enthusiasm, and first in love,

Wilful, ardent, and brave,

pleased of the life God gave.

The sierra-winds are her kiss,

and the condors her mediator;

cool, and grey and strong she be—

my cool, grey valley of love.

Note: 1-12-2009 (No: 2548)



Commentary: The Mantaro Valley of Peru, 10,500-feet up and nestled in a wide valley, is forever changing, as all things do, and must. It is one of the last places on earth; the people live their culture, traditions, and customs from the Wanka and Inca days, hundreds of years ago. Many of the ruins are still in place, and many have gone with the advent of low land farming, yet the townships are dotted throughout the valley, and the old style foods, music and dances, are experienced year round. Sweaters are still hand made, and the sliver shops are world known. The people are warm, but many are still superstitious. Law enforcement is in place, yet it has to understructure, and the Montero River, once polluted to the gut, is now becoming cleaner as the miners are taking a serious look at what they are dumping into the river. All in all, it is a place that will be unnoticed twenty years down the road, as the cool gray valley of love. But I have lived to see it these past five years, and that in itself, is a plus for me. The valley has some 1.2 million inhabitants in it; Huancayo is the biggest city of about 300,000. The weather is perhaps the best in the world—like Arizona, and prices are about one half of what it would be in Lima, and Lima is about one third the prices it would be in Minnesota, where my second home is. So you can take it from there, what it would cost to visit, the last years perhaps, of a remarkable area that still has ancient love in place.