English Poem: Autumnal Melancholia – Roha Nasir Niazi.

The ghost of melancholia torments me

as the bleak wind hits my face

forcing its way into my veins.

I glare fixedly at the perpetual azure sky

veiled by fleecy grey clouds with a promise of rain.

Stepping on crisp autumn leaves, passing by the streets,

I sense a void, a certain kind of desolation in my soul.

The sombre and funereal time of fall is what brings me to feel so incomplete.

I stand, taking shed under the trees that are a bonfire yellow.

Jostling for a purpose, yearning for tranquility,

I long to experience happiness in its true form, untethered and mellow.

The chilly air in the nights to cool off the mild heat of the day,

I clench the sleeves of my sweat.

Trapped in my own thoughts I stay,

witnessing the red sunsets and the death of nature,

the angst building up in me,

perhaps it is just my queer behavior

for they say fall is the season of warmth, a fresh start

so here I lay pondering

how the warmth they speak of extends to all but my heart.

Existing through the dusky evenings and the mist,

I remain stagnant,

for the ghost of melancholia and the period of Autumn seem to coexist.

– Roha Nasir Niazi