Review of‘An empty train’ a poem by Alfred Schaffer

 

Review of‘An empty train’ a poem by Alfred Schaffer

I request readers to read the poem first from the above link and then my review. Thanks.

The title ‘An empty train’ is a metaphor. When a train has served a schedule and got empty it is shunted and will be on a wait for the next trip.  The train’s track, the rails are parallel and are the train’s boundaries in a way. There is also an animate metaphor, a pet dog whose movements are controlled by the leash. The following lines of the poem are outcry for freedom:

to force yourself to do something, not to
do something or to tolerate it.

how I long for that something.

like a dog that tirelessly
walks on the leash.

no, you can’t sing that.

neither can I
with my black voice.

 

The figurative expression black voice is powerful. Humanity has left lot of scope for racism and divisions and discriminations on the basis of race, colour and religion. Open racist remarks and campaign by politicians are shamefully happening in the west and in the sub-continent. Writers and poets would never stop their expressions for a saner and freer world. With a very few words the poem grips the reader and his conscience. Well done.