The Last Song of Orpheus

By Rufaida Manzoor

We loved each other, swans at rest,

But fate had torn you from my breast.

The gods decreed, our paths must part,

Yet sorrow broke my mortal heart.

To Hades’ throne I bent my plea,

To Persephone, I begged for thee.

I played a song no man had known,

A melody carved from grief alone.

The gods wept tears at every strain,

But I stood numb in endless pain.

They gave you back, yet laid one law:

“Do not look back at what you saw.”

Each step I heard, your soul drew near,

My heart sank low in hope and fear.

But love betrayed my trembling will,

I turned—and all grew dark and still.

So close you were, yet lost from sight,

My Eurydice, my soul’s delight.

By longing’s fire I sealed my fate,

And left you at death’s shadowed gate.

Now in this world I walk alone,

With songs of grief, my heart has grown.

A tragic tale the bards still weave—

Of love too strong, yet doomed to grieve.

By Rufaida Manzoor