Against Love

It wasn’t love what we had shared

that moonlit night watching the waves

when I found you in my arms

Absorbing, the moonlit sea

The blue moon stood watching

Shimmering blue water, like little pears afar

Waves crashing, eerily calming

Twinkling stars, and the two of us

The vast sky did note above

the two strangers who once knew each other

finding comfort in familiarity

but too tired with the familiar

Slowly each relationship had faded away

and people had become unfamiliar to us,

slowly, we had become unfamiliar to ourselves

realizing, relationships were what made us “us”

Moonlight shining on your face that night

I swear I don’t know a prettier sight

Desires grew I admit I curbed

‘coz what we had shared, it wasn’t love

Love seeks an aim to grow old together

love desires to wake up to a face everyday

to find the comfort of sleep, in arms

to share life, across time’s expanse

But love does not last as long as life

Inevitably and surely, love disappears

But life created together does not

yet you’re to share the journey, on and on

Love seeks to create legacies

those that are nourished with care and joy

Yet love doesn’t help in going through life

love brings together, and then bids goodbye

Life demands more than what love offers

Respect and calm and fighting with honor

It asks for unending everyday resolve

to see a face, and fall for it every time

For it takes courage to love someone as they are

to make room for someone else in your shell

to make home for someone else’s demons

in your own mind’s hell

And life does not demand love

It just seeks a long warm hug

That speaks everything the soul craves to hear

It says, “I understand. You’re not alone anymore”

That moonlit night watching the waves

when I found you in my arms

It wasn’t love what we had shared

but why does it have to be any less?

Vishal Gupta

4 Jul 2017

Anticipation

It was a casual Saturday evening

He sat with his friends at a bar

sharing stories and loneliness over drinks and dinner

just another night in the city of lights

A sharp motion caught his eye

As if the evening suddenly came alive

Paced feet walked past their table

and he noticed the slender damsel

His friends took little interest

in the rush that seemed to grip her form

As gentle curls fell just below the neck

followed by three from the hotel’s desk

She took her table with poise and turned

her face a mix of anticipation and glee

She shot her orders with smile

and was content to be left in peace

She looked outside the window

eagerly waiting on

what could it be, he thought to himself

oblivious to the chatter in his own environs

As is the nature of anticipation

her glee gave way to doubt

It did not take long for her smile to turn

to looks of longing to insecurity to ire

She twirled her phone to see

if she was incorrect in being as excited as she be

A few words were exchanged, out of earshot to him

for there were other, he himself wanted to speak

But he waited, and saw

as she waited checking window and phone

A shimmering drink was brought to her

as royal as she had been

And as he thought he wondered

if her glee had given path to ire

or if it was all in his own head

A story devised without context

to feed the austerities of the mind

Was the story of her transformation his own

For he was the one who felt it

If he had seen a girl in anticipation

or if he had seen a girl, in anticipation

Vishal Gupta

8 October 2017