Ode To Gloom

Sometimes, sometimes The depth of gloom Descends so far Far As to reach hell, The entrails of the earth Far point from hope Where the long night Reigns all day And Where the stars Will never twinkle Nor the moon Its friendly languid rays will shine. How many times I lay Thus pained and sacrificed Like to the sacrificial lamb in gloom: No friendly welcome lighthouse lit The dark motionless sea No breeze cooled The leaden humidity around my soul No oasis Appeared; desert sands Stretched ever-increasing and wide Red burning raw and parched and hostile And the stars Never did twinkle in the frosty nights Nor the moon Its friendly languid rays shine. But in gloom spirit works My spirit remains Full and unconquered, suffering Yet vanquished not Blind with pain Yet stubborn in resistance Leaden in humidity Yet working, toiling, toiling… Across the parched sands I moved I pained I suffered And then And then I saw an oasis I saw my works Bloom in full spring Surrounded by the winter wraiths: And I thanked gloom: Gloom, the fuel of my works.