Book review: 'Love' The Awakened 'Soul', a poetic exploration of moods and emotions

Love is a phenomenon that makes the world go round.

People have been writing on this very topic since time immemorial. And, yet this topic never seems to get extinguished. People still have so much to write on this topic.

The poems in this book capture the many moods, and emotions, and the ethereal significance of love in our daily lives, in our very existence.

The first thing that struck me even before I had read all the poems was that none of the poems in here have a title.

I wondered why that would be and I got the answer soon enough. All the poems seem to merge into one another. The thread from one poem lingers into the next one, like a continuous flow of conversation.

So what I would be doing here is discuss some of the lines from the poems that stayed with me.

“Play for the Love of your heart/ For it knows her own comfort.” Truer words cannot be there. Your heart knows you best, your heart is what defines you and makes you the person you are. Your heart gives you your passions and your passions shape your life. So, that’s love defining our lives. And, that’s one poem depicting the utter reality of life that people seem to ignore in the rat race of this fast world.

“And the LOVE told me...I am ever been your co-traveler.’ Whether we realise it or not, deep inside our hearts we are all looking for love. We want to be loved by others and we want to love ourselves. It is that search for love that drives us ahead. Love is our co-traveler, I must say, I quite appreciate this thought. It is a very hopeful idea that sure needs to be conveyed amongst the angst-ridden masses in this age of hatred.

“I hold your hand/ beloved LOVE / If I die the next morning/ You’ll be my mother again” These lines too are beautiful. Here love is being imagined as a caring and protective mother. This idea is something quite unexpected, but so true. If we let our hearts get shrouded with love in our moments of pain, then love can become our guiding light, just like our mothers are. Things like hatred and revenge and rivalry would cease to exist if this thought were to be embraced by all.

“Man without LOVE/ Is just a repeated insignificance/ of birth and death.” Again, a striking thought. You might be a very accomplished person, but accomplishments can only earn you success and jealousy, not acceptance, not friends. Only if you share love do you get back love. You make your place in the hearts of people only with love and nothing else and that’s the irrefutable truth of life.

This book of poems is filled with such lovely thoughts and ideas. It’s definitely a book that needs to be read and cherished.

Reviewed by Priya Das.