19 July, 2012

Love


A poem nine years in the making and the last of the trilogy. This one is very dear to me and perhaps brings out the feeling in the best way one can put it. I hope you enjoy reading this as much as I did writing it. So without further adieu, presenting to you... Love.

Love

Chatting with a friend on a summer noon
she asked me to tell her what love is
I chuckled, I could not explain
for it is a feeling, too difficult for my words
I could attempt to give it meaningful words
to wrap it in beauty, and present it to the world
But I know my words could never do justice
that my words will always be too small to convey the meaning of love
So I refuse to make an attempt,
because whatever I say would be too small
to express tender wild emotion
what people call love

She asks me for a symbol, she wont rest without one
she wants to understand, if she has ever felt love
I think for a moment, scared to reply
for this is a risk, to corner love in a symbol
But alas! She leaves me no choice
and I think for a moment, before I reply

Love is when, you’re ready to give
everything you have in your life
Now let’s take the two objects
most precious in your life

One is your life itself, on which based is your entire strive
but the other, is what makes life meaningful
the only gift you get in your life
is your precious, unaltered time.

When you lay back at night
and think of someone and smile
you know your day was theirs today
and for them now you spend your breath
They have your thoughts tonight
they will rule your dreams
They have earned your time tonight
And you shall love them forever

You don’t need a long time to fall in love
A day is long enough to know a person
But love, love is something much simpler
only a moment is enough to fall in love
All you need is a right moment
when you fall in love with his eyes
When his smile makes more meaning for you
than any happiness you’ve encountered in life

She smiles at me, still listening
but her eyes have drifted away
she remembers something, or perhaps someone
‘I wish I could have that moment,’ she mumbles

She notices I’ve stopped my sermon,
and looks me in the eye
She asks me how to fall in love
how to experience that sensation divine

I tell her she can’t, if she can understand love
no one chooses to fall
It happens to one and happens to all
she would just have to recognize her call

I told her an old saying, about whom to love and whom to not
It asked not to fall for someone you love
but be smart and give your heart to someone who loves you back
for giving away your love may bring back pain
but taking love does not
But alas, those who understand love,
know this cannot be done
for loving someone you love with all your heart
is what love is all about

She looks down thinking, if she’d ever find the one to love
and if she does, would she be among the lucky to be loved back
for now she understands it’s blessed to love with all your heart
and blessed to be loved, by another man’s soul
but deific to be loved back, by the one to whom she has given her core

I tell her not to worry, in any case she’d make a good story
and I’d always be there to pen it for her
she smiles at my little jest and asks me to foresee
would she ever find her love so fine

I tell her I’m unable to predict
for future holds mysteries far intricate than now
but I let her know in any case she’d be lucky
For indeed lucky is girl, who is the first love of a boy
very lucky, for a life goes to her name
everything he becomes, he owes to her
He waits his entire life, just to hear her voice
Very lucky she becomes, when a boy opens his heart for the first time for her
yet,
luckier is the boy, who is the last love of a girl
for he gets more, much more
when a boy opens up, he gives her his life
but when a girl falls in love
the boy gets everything he wished for
his dreams come true and his life attains meaning
He wishes for nothing else in life
His journey becomes complete and he becomes ready to die

They write the first love is divine
but the writer must’ve been a guy
For a girl, it’s her last love when she truly leaves her past
and gives herself to a boy
A boy never leaves his past, that’s why his true love is his first
a girl leaves behind everything
to bathe in the shower of her last love

She looks at me, now I see wonder in her eyes
she asks me, have I ever gone through it
How did I feel, what went wrong
How could I, fail to reach to the girl I love

I told her my words came from my failure
And my understanding from my pain
I was not sad that she is the love of someone else’s life
I was sad,
because someone else was the love of her life
someone, who made her happy
someone who gave her a smile I could not imagine harming
so I asked her to go away
for even though I would live in pain without her
My crying heart would be happy
that she has happily moved on with someone who gave her joy

When she’d come, I asked her to come
To come so, that she’d never have to go
And now that she’s gone, I just asked her
never to come back again

She looks at me with a sad eye
and embraces me with a warm hug
a tear falls on her shoulder
and some weight lifts from my chest

Vishal Gupta
April 14th, 2012