Where Is Spring?

This is the first time that I’m putting up one of my poems on the blog. The poem is titled similar to the post, ‘Where is Spring?’ The first line of this poem is taken from P. B. Shelley’s , ‘ Ode to the West Wind’ which became part of his lyrical play, ‘Prometheus Unbound’. Percy Bysshe Shelley is considered to be one of the most eminent Romantic poets of his age in English literature. In the above-mentioned ode, he has written  about the west wind rejuvenating the land after long months of winter. However, this poem describes the utter hopelessness and despair of the human soul that has no chance at redemption.

Where Is Spring?

If Winter comes, can Spring be far behind?

If Grief is here, can Joy be far behind?

These are but sayings, to be said and forgotten,

For the life you see, lives in winter eternal;

Where suffering rains from the clouds of despair,

And the smoke of sorrow threatens every ray of hope.

This clammy dampness clings tight to me,

These uneven stones cut into my feet,

This oppressive darkness seizes my heart,
This fiery cold grips my very heart.

I can hardly see but I can feel –

This Darkness closing in on me.

I went for them, oh one by one,

Played cat and mouse just for fun,

I hunted them down and tortured them,

I made them bleed and made them beg,

For the mercy I was not to give.

Yes, I killed You and You and You!

But now of what use is the truth?

YOU are gone and I am here,

Now Grief and Fear and Death haunt Me!

These shadows steal upon me now,

Those dark shadows now jump at me;

That staircase never seems to end,

The roof comes crashing down on me.

I fear that I’m losing my mind;

No time makes sense, just the season does.

This – lonely night – of cold –

Goes on and on and on…

And now at last have I realized,

There is no spring for me!

- Brendan-Anton R. Dabhi