Eran Sim 2C/06

In this poem, i want to show both the concepts of life and death as a kind of natural journey, one that is inevitable and will happen no matter what we do in an attempt to prevent them. I want to bring out the sinister emotions associated with death, as well as the hope and joy we see in the birth of new life. I drew inspiration from Percy Bysshe Shelley's "Ode to the West Wind", which also captures the concepts of life and death. The two concepts are portrayed in the form of the change of seasons. E.g. Where winter leaves, comes along spring. It brings out a picture of a cycle, where the ending of one brings about the start of another, a natural process, untouched and unaltered by man.


;the beauty of life

;Pain and despair, my broken wings

The Journey

There the swan stood alone and forlorn,
Beneath the shadows of the overhanging branches;
Neck hung in despair and resignation,
Lost is the pride it once possessed.

Death, the inevitable coming,
Like a scimitar, drizzled with blood;
Brought down upon the fabric of life,
The swan knew it’d arrive.

It lived life by the day,
Never assured to live the day after;
Oh! Forewarned what come may,
Will death come any faster.

The crumpled feathers falling,
Dropping, scattered on the ground;
Like the grains of life slowly wiltering,
Flowing out of the swan into the earth.

It crumples to the floor,
Taken is its last breath.
(Life’s transient, I don't want to end up simply having visited this world)

And yet another sight is painted,
A cygnet spreads its wings out if its shell;
It waddles in ungainly steps,
Looking for the familiar scent of its protector.

Oh the joy and pride!
That thy mother swan feels,
Knowing that the child has been born,
Oh the gift of life!

And yet solemnly,
Brought into the world unknowing,
A creature untainted by the world’s evil;
Given a life presented a journey,
The swan waddles on.

Eran Sim

2C'06