POETS’ CORNER

Excerpted from Dejection: An Ode by Samuel Taylor Coleridge ...

By S. K
February 03, 2023

Poems forever

A grief without a pang, void, dark, and drear,

A stifled, drowsy, unimpassioned grief,

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Which finds no natural outlet, no relief,

In word, or sigh, or tear—

O Lady! in this wan and heartless mood,

To other thoughts by yonder throstle woo’d,

All this long eve, so balmy and serene,

Have I been gazing on the western sky,

And its peculiar tint of yellow green;

***

Excerpted from Dejection: An Ode by Samuel Taylor Coleridge

A warm cup of coffee and me

By Abid Agha

A warm cup of coffee

Holding firm in my hand

Absorbing its warmth.

Taking slowly, sip by sip.

Suddenly, puffs of dark clouds appear

In front of my eyes

Start hiding the chains of Margalla Hills

Rain drops swing with scented cool breeze

Twisting on my head with ease

All is around sans you.

Mind splatter

By Amna Ameer

I froze

Mid sentence

With my heart in constraint

The size of a fist they say?

It felt like it was plagued

With its tight hold

With no air to breathe

Or blood to pump

I just was stunned

Out of breath

Out of control

Away from all logic

No tangible being

All the moods

Were colours

Spread in the sky

And my screams

Seared through

Like an arrow

Without a bullseye

And they landed

On my corpse

Over and over again

Yet there was no sign of life

No reason to prove

Something that is a lie

So I was compromised

I think so now

I was never meant

To own my skin

My days were always

Borrowed

They belonged to someone else

And I was just a puppet

Playing someone else’s cues

Following footsteps

To death

And finding meaning

Behind what’s subdued

So I was speechless

When they extended

My term

I was supposed to be free

Yet here I am

Tied by shackles

Of expectations

To keep bonds

That are already forsaken

And then give a breath

To the dead

And live as something

Worthwhile

When all my responses

Are only to trauma

And all my languages

Have been translated

To those of a prolonged

Struggle to survive

I have become

The disorder

An idiosyncratic answer

To an ongoing

Manslaughter

Of my mind

Faded footprints

By Mehreen Shams

As some haunting words snore

I follow

Faded footprints beside seashore

I allow

Angry waves to knock at my door

Do you, still, want to explore?

Compiled by SK

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