Poem 078: August, Alas! Poem by Samer Madbak

O month of cheer
August of company
August, my dear,
Where is our sweet assembly?
In what apparel do you come?
Your idolist
Has fallen in for misery
His sinews trembly
His pleasure mum
A darkness, heavy mist
In sovereignty
His sunshine overcome!
Your celebrant is lost
On alien grass, bereft
Of Beauty’s face
Of God’s abundant grace
Of all! So little’s left
Bitter feelings, tempest-tossed
Mem’ries, mem’ries galore
Timid stories, moments dear,
Reveries of yore,
And a stifled tear
A tear, and nothing more!
Behold your worshipper undone
That aimless wight
Who used to wait, and ever wait
For you, a reverend guest
And anticipate
Your lively sun
And that one delight;
His village and his vale
His mountain crest
The sprightly day, and sacred night
The fêtes, the evening tale
The virgin ever blest…
That selfsame guy
That roomy breast
Gave in, that glorious gale
Subsided, Fie!
That limpid sky
Now waxen pale…
August, alack!
My world of florid sketches
Turned to shale
My evergreen
Now but a sweeping black
Of horrid sketches
Plains of spleen
August, my sweet delight,
Zenith of love and unison
Have you become the scatterer
The cruel shatterer
Of my humble dreams
In my Lebanon
Oh hark! The temperate night
Is seeking me
The village craves reunion
The valley wants his son
The copses, meadows, streams
The morning sun
My dearly company
The Mass
The altar, the communion
All grieving, call
On me, upon my ravaged soul
Upon my agony
August, Alas!
Fight I my destiny? !


Adelaide
August 9th 1990