Monday 19 March 2007

Janice Fan 2D/06



The last trees turn bare,
leaving only their trunks and barks to admire.
Winter is imminent and
Autumn is soon to end its cycle once again.

A solitary golden leaf from afar catches the passer-by’s eye.
A zephyr casually dances by,
yet it stubbornly clings onto it's very last hope of survival-
chances diminishing as the clock ticks away.

Gone are the days where the soft sun
used to radiate that lush green leaf.
Gone are the days where the bonds of the stem
so strongly held and protected it from its fear of falling.

For even bonds being forged thus strong
can be broken without a sweat in the darkest of hours.

Oh what feelings of pain and sorrow must accompany
the betrayal of such trust!
Left all alone to fend itself against all other elements,
How much more of this can she take?

That now seemingly lone copperish leaf
quietly succumbs to its fate.
It indignently embraces itself for the final plunge
as a more forceful wind dashes across.

The very last of the autumn leaf has landed,
which also marks the end of yet another repetitive season.

This poem was inspired by Percy Bysshe Shelley’s Ode to the West Wind where some of his themes and concerns included the cycle of death and re-birth. The issues of man’s strained relationship with nature also inspired the poem. In this poem, autumn has finally ended but it is merely for a period of time and will be sure to come once again.

Janice Fan
2D/06

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