‘Fog in the Valley’ and Other Poetry by Cathy Bryant

Fog in the Valley

The fog flows down like a flock of pale gulls
and the valley of my home disappears.
In seconds, stuff engulfs us. Each sense dulls;
cold soggy cotton fills our eyes and ears.
And where now is Man’s brilliance and pride?
Nature in a moment smothered it all.
Of all we have done, nothing now abides.
We stumble, helpless, through the silent pall.
But fog is much more merciful than Man.
It floats away, greeting the morning sun.
All we have is reborn, as if to plan.
We smile and get on; there’s much to be done.
So Nature shows us her staggering power
but relents, as sweet as her smallest flower.

The Spirits of the Murdered Falun Gong Practitioners Will Endure

Truth, compassion and forbearance
were the touchstones of your good lives.
When weapons made their appearance
you met them with prayer, not with knives.

Your plight moves many adherents.
Regimes rise and fall; your light thrives.
Truth, compassion and forbearance
were the touchstones of your good lives.

In Tibet Now

In Tibet now they have parades,
the men who made the killing raids.
The unresisting monks have fled,
those who were not among the dead
cut down by bullets and by blades.

An army through the slaughter wades
to crush the gentlest of crusades
by which compassion truly spread
in Tibet now.

And are they visited by shades,
the soldier-killers in sweet glades?
Do the monks who, forgiving, bled,
pray for truth and kindness instead,
for swords to transform into spades
in Tibet now?

Featured Image: “The Wander above the Sea of Fog” by Caspar David Friedrich (1774–1840)

After studying philosophy at university, Cathy Bryant worked as a civil servant, a sales assistant in a shoe shop and a childminder, among other jobs. She submitted her first pieces of writing to magazines only because her best friend nagged her into it, seven years ago. She did it to prove to him that no one would want to publish them – and she was delighted to be wrong (Cathy’s best friend is wonderful!). Working around her disabilities, she writes whenever she can. Her current projects include a Jane Austen themed comedy novel. Cathy lives in Derbyshire, Great Britain.