Two Poems by Rositta Joseph Valiyamattam

Rositta Joseph Valiyamattam is a poet with an empathetic heart whose verses resonate with the sorrow of the unseen, unheard and unfelt! She emotes the loss of a six-year-old rendered fatherless by the cruelty of death. The poet walks with the migrant from village to city to slum, raped, tortured or even killed without purpose! Rositta brings Dickens to the mind in her engagement with the downtrodden from every walk of life, foregrounding their plight for the unversed!

1. Loss

Does loss have a face?

One glance at this sixteen-year-old –

You will see exactly where

Life stopped

And death took over.

At six he saw

His beloved father snatched away.

Fate left her cruel imprint that

Glows every day

From his heart to his unbearable eyes.

He has grown tall

But his six-year-old soul

Has not kept pace.

His mind races

His lips and fingers lag.

When will liberation find him

And give utterance

To the unspeakable

That has become

Him

For eternity?

2. Migrant Daughter

Within this great country

Stretching endlessly

With enough gold and diamonds

To fill the ocean-like coffers

Of anyone with a little power,

There’s little time or space or money

For some creatures.

Cursed lives in human form

Migrating from village to city

City to slum

Slum to mines, construction sites, dungeons

Breeding amid misery

Sons and daughters who

Never see light of dawn or learning.

Until one morning

They emerge

Famous for twenty-four hours

Tortured or raped or lynched bodies

Born without purpose

Killed without reason

Just for

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