Like a rush-hour deluge, love arrived
where it shouldn’t. When we couldn’t.
Stirring up the normal. But love must
be Shakespearean: a costume drama,
poetry frothing at its mouth, selfish,
greedy, visceral. Always wanting more,
wanting so much more that nothing is
enough. Not even love. We’re raised
on happy endings. Even tragedies are
normalized as the best possible result,
given the odds. When love fails, we ask
if it was real. Seek existential assurance.
A real love should have destroyed the
lover when it left. Survival is proof of
what never was. The ledger of longing
is never tallied. The void is carried like
an abscess. Never absent. Never healing.
And yet these are just ordinary wounds.
Not worthy of even an ordinary story.
Do you think a fleeing comet is allowed
to fall in love with the moon? Do you
think the moon should listen to the sky?
Do you think Sisyphus should write a love
song for a nameless paramour who
helped him roll the rock uphill one night?
A story in many unequal parts, some missing 
I love the questions in the closing stanza. And I so resonate with “when love fails, we ask if it was real.” So true.
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Thanks so much, Sherry.
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Oh my, how I relate to this! But then, I expect I’m not alone in that.
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Thank you. This one I think is like a bookmark that starts off Chapter 2 in a way… so this was easy to write, not so much the few drafts that came after it… 🙂
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Love has a strong pull like the moon has on the tides.
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True that! Thank you, Colleen.
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“When love fails, we ask
if it was real.”
I’ve always wondered about people’s reaction to relationships that don’t work as expected. If that is true about love, then I guess every single life is a failure. Since we all die… in the end.
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Though life doesn’t ever offer the other possibility of immortality! However, I hear you and your point about taking it on the chin and keeping faith intact, is well made and valid. Thanks, Magaly. You do look at the brighter side, always. It’s a gift.
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Splendid! 🙂
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Thanks so much!
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You are welcome. 🙂
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‘The void is carried like
an abscess. Never absent.’
– I love your imagery and word-play here, Rajani!
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Thanks so much, Ingrid.
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Ah love. The ledger of longing is never tallied – such wonderful writing.
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Thanks so much, Lindi. Glad you liked this one!
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Very potent questions putting the matters of love to the most grueling of acid tests — “Survival is proof of / what never was. The ledger of longing / is never tallied. The void is carried like / an abscess. Never absent. Never healing. / And yet these are just ordinary wounds. / Not worthy of even an ordinary story.” And yet, despite every negation, love still says Yes, refuting the entire argument with that word.
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Yes it does… leaves you for dead and dares you to live again, love again. Thanks Brendan.
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You capture something of the overwhelming power of love here. The questions in the last verse have me thinking but I don’t know the answers to them.
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Thank you, Suzanne. 🙂
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As always a wonderful story is told here and much is offered in the way of contemplation. I’d like to think that a blazing comet might have a full blown love affair with the moon as it passes.
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Thank you, Paul. It very well might, I think. As for what the moon will do with the empty sky later… maybe become a poet 🙂
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I think Sisyphus would! 😉
This is an excellent poem Rajani – you deserve more readers.
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Thanks so much, Kim.
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Reblogged this on The Cheesesellers Wife and commented:
A wonderful love poem from Rajani – enjoy!
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I hope you give this one the read aloud treatment too. It’s so powerful and raw in its expression of pain and rage, not just at the ill-suited ex-lover but at society for the lies it tries to sell us about love.
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Thank you, Rommy. Definitely will do more readings… that’s the plan for now 🙂 Can’ believe I’ve been doing this for 3 months now already :))))
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Heh. “A real love should have destroyed the
lover when it left.” This is a great poem, Rajani.
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Thanks so much for reading. Glad you liked the poem.
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Mine was real … oh yes it was. Reinforced by the beauty and wisdom in your awesome writing. post.
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Thank you Helen.
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Oh my God, this poem is exquisite from start to finish, Rajani. It resonates with wisdom throughout. So many wonderful lines, impossible to quote them all. I love the whole analogy that “love must be Shakespearean…poetry frothing at its mouth…”
And these:
“We’re raised
on happy endings. Even tragedies are
normalized as the best possible result,
given the odds.”
“…The ledger of longing
is never tallied.”
“Do you think a fleeing comet is allowed
to fall in love with the moon?”
So, so beautiful ❤
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Thanks so much, Sunra. Glad you liked it!!!
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You’re most welcome.
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