Poem by Dr. Jernail S. Aanand


THE BRITTLE PASSION

O Minstrel, Remember
Against the dark sigh-lence
Of the cosmic despair,
Deep, and intense, inordinately long.
You are time’s only song.

Sing O poet, songs of goodness
Joy and even pain
Let the music of thy sonnet
And the rhythm of they feet
This flourishing melancholia defeat

In these lengthening shadows
In the evening of civilization
And the death of hope
Let the dread of an invisible fear
A bit less deadly appear.

The sun comes daily
And despaired
Returns to its misty abode
To see the wild winds
The waves of insanity
Riding rough shod

When shall we see
An iota of peace
In the turbulent sea
Roaring with a brittle passion
To compromise humanity .

O those who kill and maim,
It is Syria or Ukraine
In civilization’s name
Get rid of this unfair fame.
It is not victory, it is shame.