28 August, 2019

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

19 August, 2019

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