In this love poem, Elsy talks about the paradoxes of life and her calling as a poet, in Different Truths. An evocative poem that would linger on.
Strength is my weakness,
and weakness, my strength.
In me the strong and weak
go hand in hand.
But that is my weakness,
I cannot cry where
others would wail!
When it comes
to voicing emotions
I encounter a block.
To me love unexpressed is a gem
sparkling in silky silence.
We do not have to be told
that we are loved,
love is a wordless feeling,
which is divine,
and which we can divine.
It is an articulate emotion
that waxes eloquent in silence.
It is hardy, like iron,
oft bared, it gets rusty.
Love is wordlessly etched
in the niche of hearts.
Heart is a Braille slate,
we read it with our fingers,
voiced words
are redundant there.
When self-disdain
about blocked emotions
begins to blister me
I take refuge in words.
Words are my panacea,
poetry, my penance.
Picture design Anumita Roy
Elsy Satheesan is a retired Professor of English. She had been teaching in colleges under the Govt. of Kerala, India. Currently, she resides in Virginia, USA. ‘Random Musings’ is her first volume of poems. ‘Summer Snow’, is the forthcoming one. Her poems have been published in national and international anthologies. Short stories in Malayalam have been published in weekly and fortnightly, in Kerala. Humanity is her religion, and poetry, her passion.
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