Pansy Love

a poem by Aparna Gopalakrishnan

Proclamations of love declared
In witness of the earthly skies
Now in flames of deceit flared
In that flame, the flicker dies

To the man who swore I do
Pretend she did of love untold
Soon came another man with all ado
A pack of new lies, she added to her old

Truly wicked, she never was
The wind she was, she just changed
But to hell, she sure had a pass
Feelings of guilt in her unchanged

The stars she can’t reach in the yonder
The clouds she could never hold
In those lived her desires of wonder
So much more vice of her could be told

The wild lily once usurped with so much glee
Now in her clasp, did not hold her fancy
On the floor it lay, as with her whims she did flee
Yes her love was just a little pansy

A chase like a hunter she cherished
The prey once caught, lay forgotten
This tale told and retold by many who perished
with her love ill-begotten