Spring-Turned Autumn Poem by Rm. Shanmugam Chettiar

Love between you and me
Knowingly or unknowingly
Budded before we blossomed,
But blossomed after we withered,
Having gone onto hibernation,
Fortunately or unfortunately,
In our spring of animation
When we branched severally.

Love between you and me
Belatedly or befittingly
Unfurled its stored fragrance
And permeated our inner sense
Only in our autumn of emptiness
When we headed for senescence,
And yet gives us a new sensation
As though we’re back to spring.

Love between you and me
Uniquely or uncommonly
Bloomed, not like a flower
That in spring opens with vigour
And ends with bearings in summer,
But one, seeded before carnal sphere,
Still out-living our carnal desire
To bring to the fall the eternal Spring.

Love between you and me
Intently and intrinsically
Is a Jasmine in its emergence
That exudes to us only fragrance
Which we breathe with all innocence
Without disturbing others’ balance.
Love for each other gives us all the vibes
To feel ever springs and no falls.

Blossomed in autumn
Our naïve love,
And brought to autumn
Ever spring now 25.03.1999