Sunday is gloomy? –
Oh! I don’t think so.
You must be driven by notoriety
To be so brimful of woe!
Sunday is gloomy! –
I certainly don’t think so ;
The day’s bright and beautiful,
Even without Antonio.
Sunday is gloomy? –
How can it be so?
White flowers, black coaches –
Naught can steep Sunday in sorrow.
Seress, Javor said Sunday’s gloomy –
It would be so much more so,
Were I to pass away abruptly,
Leaving behind darling Antonio.
Oh! Gloomy, gloomy Sunday!
You’re weirdly lethal, you know?
So many have killed themselves
Distressed by your woe.
Oh! Gloomy, gloomy Sunday!
What would the lost souls say,
Were we to celebrate Life
With prayers and candles today?
* This poem is inspired by the song, ‘Gloomy Sunday’, more popularly known as the Hungarian suicide song, which is notorious for causing the deaths of more than a hundred people, including its composers – Rezso Seress and Laszlo Javor, due to its extremely morbid and depressing nature. I’ve personally listened to three different versions of this song, one of them being the Hungarian original and another being the one sung by Sarah McLachlan, besides a third by an unnamed artist; and I found the song very beautiful, though the lyrics are certainly morbid. Of course, I took the precaution of listening to it while I was at my happiest, since I know from experience that morbid songs coupled with a morbid state of mind is the absolute recipe for disaster. So, if you’re planning to listen to the song, please do so AFTER taking the appropriate precautions. Here are the links for all three versions that I listened to (others are available on YouTube) :
BERYL 