This piece was inspired by the Thomas Hoccleve’s “Complaint and Dialogue With a Friend.”
“After that hervest Inned had his sheves,
and that the broune season of myhelmess
was come and gan the trees robbe of ther leves
That grene had bene and in lusty fresshness,
and them in-to colowre of yelowness
hadd dyne and doune throwne vndar foote
that chaunge sank into myne herte roote (l.1-7)
…and in the end of novembar, vpon a nyght,
syghenge sore as I in my bed lay
for this and othar thowghts which many a day
before I toke sleape cam none in myne eye
so vexyd me the thowghtfull maladye. (l. 17-21)
I see well, sythen I with sycknes last
was scourged clowdy hath bene the favoure
that shone [on] me full bright in tymes past;
the sonne abatid and the derke showre
hildyd down right on me and in langour
he made [me] swyme so that my wite
to lyve no lust hadd, ne no delyte. (l. 22-8)”
Hoccleve wrote this medieval literature poem about the sinking feeling that comes as the change of the season sinks into the depths of his heart.
In the summer, the sun seemed to shine, and life had seemed promising. But as autumn approaches, his ‘sickness’ returns like a dark cloud passing through a blue sky, pouring rain down on a beautiful day. He feels as though he is standing right under this cloud, getting drenched with cold water, leaving him feeling weak and hopeless.