Untainted Love

1.

Half-remembered oaths, promises of love-forever-more,

churned out vows, confessions of a love-like-this never having been felt before,

Ceremonial tables, fine wine, gourmet food, spilling into overflowing goblets,

weighed down by silver cutlery, and fine bone-china platters,

the quest for perfection, mired in the bog of suburban I’ll-show-them-all infantile matters.

2.

Not for me, this plastic, hollow charade,

not for me, this empty passing parade.

For me,

the fragrance of your hair, of your sensual body divine,

for me,

just you and I, together, your warm hand in mine,

for me, soaking in pristine nature, holding your hand in under a sashaying tree,

a simple yet truthful union of souls, of hearts, and of minds, of you, of me,

beyond crass materialism, needing only each other, enveloped in a cocoon of love,

feeling love’s soothing balm,

laying with your head on my chest,

beneath the canopy, of a lightly swaying palm.

(inspired by Don Mclean’s song “Castles in the Air“)

Our calloused Hands

I looked down and saw her calloused hands.

We tried to make ends meet.

We worked hard and lived frugally, feeling ourselves mired in the bog,

barely having enough to eat.

“These days must pass”, we whispered to each other, after yet another gruelling day.

The pain gnawed silently, as we saw our dreams receding,

farther and farther away.

We clung onto hope, the promise of better tomorrows,

yet how true it is, that so many lives are lived grinding away for a pittance,

mired in tears, grief and far too many sorrows.