For Omnia Vincit Amor & A Rational Stance

Amrita Sharma

1.

For Omnia Vincit Amor

Before the spring ends this year,

I intended to confess my love to him.

As April appears again,

I wonder if you could be mine ever,

Unlike Radha, I cannot be your beloved

Unlike Aurora, I can never get you the immortal boon

But you never take these names as we talk.

As a new year begins this month,

I wonder if I could be yours ever,

Unlike Sita, I cannot tie my life to one

Unlike Helen, I cannot bring you to an end

But you never mention these names as you write.

As past reverts and present unfolds,

These names turn and enclose each knot,

I strive to fetch you against my will,

But you remain unmoved by each.

As summer begins in India and shall soon drift by,

I shall perhaps confess my love to him next spring.

Radha- A milkmaid who is described as the beloved and chief consort of God Krishna in the

Hindu epic Mahabharata.

Aurora- The Goddess of Dawn in Roman mythology who had a mortal lover named

Tithonus for whom she asked Jupiter for the boon of immortality but forgot to ask for

immortal youth.

Sita- One of the central figures in the Hindu epic Ramayana who is the wife of God Rama

and is worshipped as an ideal wife.

Helen- In Greek mythology, Helen is the most beautiful woman in the world whose

abduction by Paris leads to the Trojan War.

2.

A Rational Stance

We were told of castles and walls lined with men,

Of passages that held an effervescent charm,

Of gatherings that offered fuel to breaths,

Edged along a reverend hand.

We were told of souls that were guarding men,

Of leaders who shall rise beyond each fire,

Of revolutions that shall lead to coinages that last,

Placed in a book with an ancient lock.

We were told of cheers that were destined to transpire,

Of eternal rules and inexhaustible laws,

Of rains that pour irrespective of seasons,

With a toolbox always held out for all.

Between untold truths and familiar lies,

A layman bridged a passage to nowhere,

With cosmic laws over a No Man’s land,

Our stories now turn to a rational stance.

Amrita Sharma is a Lucknow based writer currently pursuing her Ph.D. in English from the University of Lucknow. Her works have previously been published in Earth, Fire, Water, Wind: An Anthology of Poems, Café Dissensus Everyday, Literary Yard, Trouvaille Review, Confluence: South Asian Perspectives, Women’s Web, Borderless, , Tell Me Your Story, Muse India, Rhetorica Quarterly, , New Academia, GNOSIS, Dialogue, The Criterion, Episteme and Ashvamegh. Her area of research includes avant-garde poetics and innovative writings in the cyber space.

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