I don’t like this love business,
It is not a fair game.

It takes one to fall in love,
But involves two in the equation;
And, requires only one to call it quits!

It happens in an instant,
With your head not anywhere in the picture.
And, when one walks out,
It takes a life time to mend your broken heart;
Of course with the full help of your head!

© Bharathi Devi

Without you, what do I have?
In you, my mind has settled,
In my eyes, my dreams are imprisoned.

Day and night, in unbearable anguish have I waited,
But, just the bitter pain of separation, you have brought.
Never did you see what my heart yearned.
When all I wanted was light from you,
It is only darkness that you have filled me with.

Open my inner colors with your ray of love,  
And bring hopes of life into my barren heart.
Release me from this anxiety by unchaining me,
I will have a new life with you,
I will see a new world through you.  

~ Translation to English by Bharathi
From Kannada: "ನೀನಿಲ್ಲದೆ ನನಗೇನಿದೆ?" by M. N. Vyasa Rao.

Love did not come knocking on my door
Asking my permission to enter my heart
And live there rent free  
By pushing other occupants out.
If it had, I probably would not have allowed it.

Love did not come asking my permission,
To allow you in my life and in my thoughts.  
It just entered my mind like a wild fire,
started  destroying my other thoughts
And monopolized my life.

No, I did not have any say in this
Whole business, else
I would have researched, as usual,
And done a thorough thinking
Using my logic and reasoning;
And, I’d still be free of all this pain.

©Bharathi Devi

Hey you, don’t you recognize me?
I am the same old person you used to
know a couple of months ago.
I would not come grabbing you,
Or take things for granted,
If you just smiled and said hello!

Just because you suddenly changed your path,
Without turning on any indicator,
Don’t expect me to so quickly break,
Change my gears, switch on my turn signals
Take a U-turn and drive away;
And forget that I ever saw you!

© Bharathi Devi

Once upon a time, not long ago,
A seed of an idea flying from the land afar,
Took deep root in my fertile imagination!

There was no reason and it was no season,
But the seed sprouted and thrived!
There was some sunshine and some rain,
Enough for it to grow wild and wide –
But, the climate was not meant to be.

It engulfed my existence,
disconnected my reasoning,
It was self-sustaining!
I was basking in its beauty;
With its branches spread all over me,
I couldn’t see the world outside.

Then it started withering and dying,
For reasons I cannot explain.
The sunshine vanished,
Raindrops evaporated.
It took a while for me to realize that
All I have left is, just
A ghost of my imagination!

©Bharathi Devi