Last Tuesday’s learning in Dharamsala ended with dinner with writer and poet Tenzin Tsundue . Tenzin’s commitment to a free Tibet is boundless.
When I asked him how to maintain a national identity for all Tibetans, not just individual hope, he responded in the form of a poem about the April butterfly migration that will be part of a theatre play he is still writing. I could not have imagined a more beautiful way to answer the question. Find his books here:
https://www.tenzintsundue.com
This line from a poem published in The New Yorker in 1980 by Pablo Neruda is repeated in Tenzin Tsundue’s book, Nowhere to Call Home, which he gave me that night:
“Night comes down, but your stars are missing”
His book sits on the desk in my office in Canberra, while I listen to Chinese and Indian students discuss their computing projects outside my door, and people from Himalayan nations take a tea break from their cleaning jobs in our office kitchen.
I hope that one day all Tibetans are able to return to a free Tibet and celebrate their country and culture.
This was part of a self-funded study trip organised by Australia Tibet Council.
Emma Davidson