The Spontaneous Overflow

“If poetry comes not as naturally as the leaves to a tree, it had better not come at all” – this is how the celebrated poet, John Keats put it. Poetry is actually a spontaneous overflow of emotions, as Wordsworth said. I myself experienced it yet another time. I wrote a poem at a time when I wondered if my mind could ever be diverted towards writing a poem, and this time was when I was studying for my exam the next day. The day was when the festival of Lohri was being celebrated on January 12 and I could hear the beats of the drum. And it took me just a minute to jot it down. This is what I wrote:

I am pitying myself at this time!

I hear voices of celebration around me,

but I cannot rejoice

‘Coz I am condemned to testing myself!!!

O! that I were free -

free from the ties that bind.

The bird is free, so is the child

Why not I?

Nobody answers…

It is I who was the chooser;

and now the difference it makes to me:

Being engulfed by the binding vine!

That was just a poetic outpour but anyway the exam was good (thanks to my preparation). After all, we have to work hard to achieve something. And now I am waiting for the result. I suppose, wishes never end! Do they? Think about it.