The Pain of Too Much Tenderness...

Where you'd gently tease me and heartily laugh

At the many idiosyncrasies which so define me,

I would savor with delight all of the oddities

Which comprise the uniqueness of your beauty.

Where you would accept playful ridicule gracefully

But question the motive behind random kindness,

I would shower you with unexpected gestures of care

That I may bask in the radiance of your happiness.

Where you would perhaps forget and disregard

The utterances emanating from my mind and heart,

I would hang on your each and every word –

With bittersweet joy to recall them when we’re apart.

Where you would facilely place aside that which I

So thoughtfully offered you to nurture your soul,

I would stretch my imagination and comfort

To attentively experience all that makes you whole.

Where you would ask me not to shed my tears

Lest they summon your own grief which you dread,

I would patiently receive your tears and embrace you

Until there were no more tears for your heart to shed.

Where you would veil your heart’s need for love

In the face of social norms and public scrutiny,

I’d openly declare the pain of too much tenderness

Lest the anguish of tomorrow’s separation be our destiny.

– Sanjay Verma