Seeing Through The Night

by Bibhu Padhi (July 2013)

 

 

There are times when

One longs to know the night.

 

Metaphors change.

The neem tree in front of the house

 

That offers shelter

To ghosts and owls, stands

 

Without a name.

 

The road is a snake

gone into a long sleep.

 

Old homes are transformed,

reduced to stones and bricks.

 

Stretching myself along on the long sofa

that came to me through an inheritance,

 

I look across a distance that is

never true, imagine the hill

 

that will receive the first rain.

I believe there is some kind

 

of a meaning in the night–

a witness to the changes

 

of seasons and climates,

a stillness that spreads across

 

the small town. 

I wait.

 

After a long while

that seems like years,

 

the night that begins to look like

a child’s distant, midnight cry,

  

trembles like

one of the nearer leaves,

 

and quietly goes to sleep.

 

 

Bibhu Padhi's seventh book of poetry, MIGRATORY DAYS A TRAVEL DIARY IN VERSE, was published in 2011. His work has appeared in numerous magazines and anthologies, the most recent being THE HARPERCOLLINS BOOK OF ENGLISH POETRY (2012). He lives in Bhubaneswar, India.

 

To comment on this poem, please click here.

To help New English Review continue to publish original poetry such as this, please click here.

If you enjoyed this poem and would like to read more by Bibhu Padhi, please click here.