Poems by
Ramakrishnan R

Love’s Labours Lost

a poem by Ramakrishnan R

Love begets jealousy and leads
By ears to close cousin, hatred
Love is never blind; with eagle’s power of sight
Sees through thick fibres of hearts and soul
At slightest millionth part of a wink
Of neglect, springs up the lava
Of jealousy and all cauldron washed
Cousins follow suit, a vast retinue.
Love leading to hate
Fire giving out shivers of cold
A contradiction in terms
A confusion of all sorts.

Is such love really love or what?
Are we guilty or love at fault?
Mirage of obsession and attachment
Mind misconceived as oasis of love
Attachment, love’s worst enemy
Impures soul,and corrupts heart
Famous stories of love relished
Over human horizon centuries over
Not stories of love but tales
Of infatuation, lust and levity
Physical facet misnomered
Bronze and copper flaunting gold.

Un-physical is purest love
Unattached, its natural display
Love at first sight, lust indeed
Withers at second sight and obscures
The passion of soul with dark-like clouds
Of fleshy blood and bloody flesh;
True love is like mythical monkeys
Hears not; nor speaks or sees
The evil of lust-born flames and hisses;
What passes as holy love
Is all but love: crude and shady
Possessive mind’s deeper longings,
Fancy-conceived and unrelated
To truth and deep depths of soul.