Inspired, and also a little scared, birthday wishes

Sometime back I had posted a poem by Irene Rutherford on my fb wall – “Is Love then, so simple”. Here it is again.  I could read it a million times and not get enough! Its brevity and punch are just amazing.  Irene would have been right at home in today’s twitter world I think, and I don’t mean that in any frivolous way, only this poem was published 1920.  Anyways, it generated a lot of likes as is obvious it should, my father read it and commented that he should like to see something as profoundly simple and powerful as this someday, with my name written on it.  Scary! but I wanted to give it a shot.

This week is my father’s birthday, his 80^th and 20^th simultaneously.  This is for you, Baba.  My rejoinder to Irene.  As simple and honest as I can be.  Happy birthday!

Must it always be so clear

What love is, and isn't?

Understanding get so sheer

That it can be envisioned.

The more I've loved, the more I've lost

The will to define things.

For you - clear vistas crossed.

For me, the indistinct.

As I sit still, and it gets less -

My share of eternity -

The more I feel it's hard to guess

What love has meant to me.

And since I am on some kind of bare-all spree here in this post, I might as well record that end of January is my parent's wedding anniversary. And end-Feb is my father's birthday, so February has always been my very own personal month to celebrate and reflect on love in its myriad forms, Valentine or no.  Or should I say, reflect and celebrate a little more intensely, because really, there are eleven more months to think about and celebrate it.