Dark Ode to Melancholy
I. StropheO, dark ode! Shall this dim Melancholia
inflame anew my grief’s funereal rhyme?
O, dark ode! The wan end of my mania
draws nigh to seal me ere my fated time.
When rapture wanes, when bliss breathes death’s cold breath,
the body droops while thought endures its pain;
when the world’s light fades from all man’s leisure:
what pulse of life survives that beats in vain?
O Muses! Grant once more heaven’s breath,
and wake new spirit in this song’s dark measure.
II. Antistrophe
O midnight Muse! Pale friend of solitude,
descend once more where hollow whispers climb.
Through thought’s dim vale, by grief’s own interlude,
I wander, haunted by my former prime.
If joy be brief, yet sorrow knows long breath,
its cadence tolls through every mortal vein.
So be it then—let pain be my true treasure,
the somber gold no tempests can profane.
O darkness! Crown this heavy heart’s calm death,
and seal thy vow within this sacred measure.
III. Epode
Yet in this twilight’s hush, one bloom remains:
Rose, bright soul! whose kindness soft redeems my scars.
Though Melancholia still haunts my veins,
thy voice restores the music of the stars.
Where all was ash, thy laughter wakes the fire,
where night was void, thy word restores the day.
Thou art the pulse that bids my grief aspire,
the living psalm that drives my grief away.
O friend divine! With thee the heart never burns,
when love survives by all your graceful turns.
And if I fade, still let my spirit prove:
one faithful heart outweighs the world’s unlove.
Poetry by Ngoc Nguyen
Written on 2026-03-12 at 03:16
Tags Ode Melancholy Rose
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