Diplomacy Abhay K. (bio) After T.S. Eliot IWe are the angry menWe are the confused menConfronting each otherOur heads filled with anger.When we shout at each otherOur voices are loud and meaninglessAs screeching fighter jetsIn a war zone Anger has no shape, anger has no colour,Anger is a misguided force, a violent emotion; Those who have trespassedWith full knowledge, to the anger’s underworldCan’t remember anything at all – are lostForever in the serpentine labyrinthOf anger, those angry menThose confused men. IIDare not meet their eyesIn anger’s underworld, [End Page 287] They are everywhereHere, there, the eyes are everywhereLike burning ember in the cold, dark nightsThere is a dog howlingAnd their angerIs shooting upAnd upLike a gathering storm. Let them go deeperIn the underworldLet them go nakedWearing nothingWithout their masksIn the ringAs true wrestlersNo less –For the final knockdownIn the dark underworld IIIThis is the doomed landThis is the nuked landHere only heaps of bonesAre left – charred, scatteredVapourized, meltedUnder the cold glow of the moon It is exactly like thisIn anger’s dark underworldWalking aloneWearing anti-radiation suit [End Page 288] Through mountains of bonesWithout uttering a wordWithout shedding a drop of tear. IVOnce, these eyes could seeNot anymoreIn this valley of tearsIn this valley of doom and deathThe lost paradiseAs whispers in the windWe glance at each otherBut can’t speakDrifting in this dull lake In no particular directionSuddenly there is a ray of lightA lotus blooms in the lakeWisdom reappearsIn the dark underworldWeaning away angerFrom the angry men. VHere we walk in the dreary desertDreary desert, dreary desertHere we walk in the dreary desertAll the three hundred and sixty-five days of the year Between the talksAnd the warBetween promises [End Page 289] And deliveryRevolves diplomacy For ours is anger’s dark underworldBetween cooperationAnd coercionBetween demarcheAnd summonRevolves diplomacy For ours is anger’s dark underworldBetween the dovesAnd the hawksBetween annihilationAnd co-existenceRevolves diplomacy For ours is anger’s dark underworldFor us it isTo choose life or deathSurvival or extinction This is the way the world is savedThis is the way the world is savedThis is the way the world is savedNot with wars but with diplomacy. [End Page 290] Abhay K. Abhay K. is the author of ten poetry books including Monsoon (Sahitya Akademi, 2022), The Magic of Madagascar (L’Harmattan Paris, 2021), The Alphabets of Latin America (Bloomsbury India, 2020), and the editor of The Bloomsbury Book of Great Indian Love Poems, CAPITALS, New Brazilian Poems, and The Bloomsbury Anthology of Great Indian Poems. His poems have appeared in over 100 literary magazines including Poetry Salzburg Review, Asia Literary Review among others. His ‘Earth Anthem’ has been translated into over 150 languages. He has received SAARC Literary Award 2013 and was invited to record his poems at the Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. in 2018. His translations of Kalidasa’s Meghaduta (Bloomsbury India, 2021) and Ritusamhara (Bloomsbury India, 2021) from Sanskrit won KLF Poetry Book of the Year Award 2020-21. www.abhayk.com. Copyright © 2022 Association for Public Religion and Intellectual Life