Poem Review: ‘ I am not robbed of my hope’

3 min readJul 15, 2020

I met Sakshi Arora, an upcoming poet on LinkedIn. She is a Masters in Literature, and a verbal and communications trainer based in Allahabad, India. She is busy these days with her debut poetry book ‘Aisling: My Poetic Words’.

I have endeavored to review the poem she shared on LinkedIn , as part of her pre-launch communication. I am sure that the reader will be interested in this poem and more so, Aisling itself.

The Poem

I am not robbed of my hope

I’m walking all alone,
Along this gravelly rough road.
Whimpering weeping silently
I should be over it; yet my horrible past is still haunting me;
It’s not letting me live my present pleasantly.
Don’t know where this road is going to lead.
Deep darkness surrounds
Vision is not clear around.
My heart is aching, crying all in vain
Hope is a balm to all my excruciating pain.
You tried, treading trampling me
Yet I will make a comeback.
You tried to rob me of my hope?
You thought, I will brittle break bow
Tears are falling down yet I will rise.
Hope whispers in my ears and I have heard it.
These wrapped clouds around my body will disappear and
Sparkling sunshine will surround me
Wilted Withered flower in me will again bloom and blossom.
I’ll dance like those daffodils in glee
And set my soul free.

The Commentary:

The first thing that comes to mind when one reads the poem is simplicity and reinforcement on hope and confidence of the protagonist. Let us analyze the poem in two parts. The first part is the pain and second, the hope.

The Pain

The protagonist is walking, ‘all alone’, through a ‘gravelly rough road’, ‘ whimpering & weeping softly.’ ‘My horrible past keeps haunting me’, indicates a tough and rough past, as she goes through the present. This past is ‘not letting her live her present’ and ‘deep darkness’ surrounds her.

It is important to understand that letting the past in the present leads to many issues — depression — which affects almost every third person at some point in time. The protagonist’s pain is expanded further in the next few lines. Her heart is aching and crying but all in vain. There is a sense of hopelessness here.

The second half of the poem introduces a ‘second character’, the presumed antagonist. This person tried to ‘ tread and trample on her’, and ‘tried to rob her of her hope’, expecting her to ‘brittle, break and bow’. It seems that the second character intends to bring the protagonist down.

‘Tears fall’ down and there are ‘wrapped clouds’ around her, and within, she is ‘a withered, wilted flower’. The protagonist is evidently going through an emotional trauma as well, and is crushed inside. Such is the plight of the protagonist in the poem.

However, there is hope. She is ‘not robbed of her hope’, as the heading reads.

The Hope

Hope is sprinkled along the path of her plight, and almost every portion of the poem. That is why the poem does not sound desperate or gloomy.

‘I should be over it,’ — the ‘should’ is a affirmative start, right at the beginning. For her, ‘hope is a balm’ from the deep and ‘excruciating pain’. With hope, she ‘will make a comeback’ and ‘she will rise’.

Hope is even talking to her, making her get back to her life. She has heard ‘Hope’s whispers in her ears’, that her life will be ‘surrounded by sparkling sunshine’,and the flower inside her will ‘bloom and blossom’.

The last two lines, ‘I’ll dance like those daffodils in glee
And set my soul free.’,bring out the finality of how hope will prevail within her first, and she will embrace life in glee, like the daffodils, and her soul will be set free.

Denzel Washington said, ‘ you might fall seven times, but get up eight’, and this poem is a powerful reminder of that great element called hope, that is the essence of life.

The poet has done a yeoman job of keeping hope alongside plight, in simple words.

Post Script

We welcome and wish Ms. Sakshi Arora all the best in her journey as a poet and author. Aisling- My Poetic Words is in pre-order here.

~Ashok Subramanian