Famous Romantic poets who died young
John Keats
He was a contemporary of Shelley and along with Lord Byron these three were considered the best of English romantic poetry. He died at the age of 26 from tuberculosis. He knew he had TB and was about to die and so refused to marry Fanny Brawne, whom he loved and instead moved to Rome where he died a year later.
Percy Bysshe Shelley
Shelley is one of the most famous English romantic poets. He died at an early age of 30 when his boat sank in bad weather. There were many theories about his death including political murder, pirates, bad navigational qualities and a boat with a flawed design that wasn’t seaworthy.
Lord Byron
He was the Baron of Lochdale and was notorious for his many scandals involving women. In 1824 he fell sick and used therapeutic bleeding to cure himself, which left him weak. The doctors insisted on continuing with the bleeding which worsened his condition and he died on 19th April at the age of 36.
Of people and prisoners
By Zahra Akbar
Once when we were people,
we dreamt of sun-filled meadows,
of halls bursting with laughter and confetti,
and moon that shone just a little fainter than a lover’s eyes.
Now prisoners,
we covet the constable’s dusty boots,
we dream of the dirty streets he walks,
and the grey patch he sees from his balcony,
still bigger than our sky.
Sit still and watch
By Fajar Ajmal
These torturing hours
These harsh words
Make this place more than worse
I can’t do much, I can’t say much
All I can do is sit still and watch
I take on life
Wondering till when I have to bear
Thinking when I will get relief?
When will I be free?
But the torture is too much
The pain too real
It goes on and on
All I do is sit still and watch
I curse my fate, I hide my shame
I remember good days
Believing it will be over soon
But now all I must do is sit still and watch
I look at my watch
Think for the hundredth of time
The moment isn’t simple to pass
I think of time when I’ll be through
I feel so alien being here
All I know is that I’m different
Not so different than an ugly duckling
Flapping and quacking in its boot trying for a place
But all I do is sit still and watch.
Orchard’s Eve
By Suhd Nazeer
Mellow rotundity’s been garnered-
while waiting for you.
Come now
save me from pining,
taste me.
Escape
By Sidra Amin
I wish I were a bird
That you could never cage.
I wish I could fly
To a place
Where the horizons met
And the sun floated on the sea..
The gaps in between
By Rutaba Tanvir
There’s a silence
Between this clatter
Perturbing yet inviting
It corrodes me; silently
As I drown willingly
In its unending laughter
Journey of Love
By Shafi Rehman
The twisted and complicated journey of love
where your true story can’t be learnt
These spiral stairs to ascend the ladder
My footsteps are burning with pleasure
The intimate relationship of two souls
where you feel the presence of your goal
The throbbing heartbeats and sleepless nights
where you finally meet with depths of your height
Is love really a childish business?
where you are like a foolish cricket
and like a swaying wolf you growl at night
that fades away when out of sight.
Compiled by SK
