VOICES
April night's faint voices recall a lost mother, igniting a soul's profound…
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From ULR
Issue 9 – Violence
The Dark Valley of Fear
Mine-weary faces navigate a valley where bullets and planned burials define survival.
June 15, 2023
I can only see dark faces
returning homes from the mines.
There is fear in their eyes,
in their sluggish walk.
Here, everyone thinks about
the future, of uncertainties and fears.
The houses are small, their interiors
waiting for new arrivals.
The club house is the only place
where bright lamps take away
the evenings to gossip;
the strangers are not liked at all.
Somewhere near it, a young girl’s voice
speaks of love and compassion.
Here, lovers are few. They spend their time
talking of distant places where
there wouldn’t be any fear.
There is death here, walking
hand in hand with life, like
the sun and the moon, day and night.
Death is discussed in close circles
and decisions are made regarding
how exactly death should come.
Someone is assigned the task
of clearing off inconsiderate faces.
The sound of bullets rushing
through the nights mix with the sound
of walking feet in the slush
of clay and death, past and future.
There are bodies that open out
waiting to be buried;
the end has its voice too.
Who takes care of this
town, offers it the much-needed
shelter from death?
The dark valley is full of
noiseless lives, their moments
too precious to be forgotten.
Who waits here to be spoken to
in the middle of the plans
for survival, as if nothing
was lost, nothing gained?
📖
PART OF A COLLECTIONThe Dark Valley of Fear and 2 other poems
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Bibhu Padhi
Bibhu Padhi has published fourteen books of poetry. His poems have appeared in major magazines throughout the world, such as Contemporary Review, The New Humanist, The London Magazine, The Poetry Review, Poetry Wales, The Times Literary Supplement, Wasafiri, Poetry Ireland Review, The American Scholar, Commonweal, The New Criterion, Poet Lore, Poetry Magazine, Rosebud, Prairie Schooner, Reed Magazine, Southwest Review, TriQuarterly, The Antigonish Review, The Dalhousie Review, The Queen’s Quarterly, Poetry Salzburg Review, New Contrast, Text, Takahe, Chandrabhaga, Debonair, The Illustrated Weekly of India, Indian Literature and Kavya Bharati,. They have been included in numerous anthologies and high-school/university textbooks. Seven of the most recent of these are The Bloodaxe Book of Contemporary Indian Poets, Language for a New Century: An Anthology of Poems (New York: Norton), Journeys (London: HarperCollins), The HarperCollins Book of English Poetry (New Delhi: HarperCollins), Distant Drums (Hyderabad & Mumbai: Orient Black Swan), Converse: Contemporary Indian Poetry in English (London: Pippa Rann Books), and The Penguin Book of Indian Poets. He lives with his family in Bhubaneswar.