VERSE: THE VOICE OF THE WIND

In “The Voice of the Wind,” a stirring poem from “Legends and Lyrics–First Series,” the author invites us to a cozy setting around a fire on a blustery night, only to plunge us into the wind’s tempestuous tales. The poem begins with an invitation to stoke the hearth and huddle close, not merely for warmth but to seek solace and unity against the night’s unsettling chorus—the wind’s relentless howl. This wind, more clamorous than the sea’s roar, seems almost sentient, bearing witness to scenes of sorrow and despair across varied, desolate landscapes.

The poem masterfully uses the wind as a narrator of tragedies it has encountered. On battlefields, it whispers the final breaths of the fallen and the outcry of scavenging vultures. The wind recounts the sheer terror of icy seas clashing, of unseen shores being battered by waves, carrying the stark reminder of nature’s indifference to human plight.

Amid lightning storms at sea, the wind is the bearer of the drowning’s final cries—desperate, unheard pleas echoed only amid the tempest’s fury. It tells of shipwrecks without salvation, of unseen despair swallowed by the vast, indifferent ocean.

The narrative then shifts to the lonely moorland, where travelers succumb to treacherous snowdrifts, their final gasps fading into the cold air. The wind speaks of the bloodhounds’ chase after the enslaved, the cruelty of their masters, and the deep, unyielding groans of the oppressed.

Venturing next through chilling forests, the wind becomes a silent witness to the desperation of those pursued by wolves, to the terror of the hurried sleigh, to cries from a dark, secluded lake—cries that go unnoticed by all but the wind as it rushes past.

“The Voice of the Wind” thus serves as a poignant reminder of the harsh realities that exist beyond our cozy hearths. Through vivid imagery and haunting repetition, the poem immerses the reader in the stories carried by the wind—stories of human suffering, natural cataclysms, and the unending struggle against the elements. Through this evocative journey, the poem underscores the wind’s role not just as a natural force, but as a timeless witness to the breadth of human experience—both its tragedies and its resilience.