The Detective And The Lover Poem by Kojo Owusu

(A LOVE MYSTERY TO BE RESOLVED)

A mystery fleeting – this I want you to resolve for me matchless sleuth
For I lost my heart
And I may lose my senses, head all because of love

Sleuth, I have suffered the worst indignity imaginable
And my heart at once soft hankering after the false charms
Of beauty and worth is now a pebble washed ashore
I have been cuckolded, deceived, strangled by infidelity
In the ocean of mire I wriggle
Lifted by illusion I dabbled in an act yet to be perfected
But the greatest that was supposed to be –
It splendid nature was the song of maidens
The fulfillment of the aged
The theme of mad poets
And adventure of the adventurous – youth and egolatry -
I gave my inner yearnings to its fleeting dreams
It charms I succumbed to
It languor I yielded – slouched in sloth
And swarm in its seemingly paradisiacal realms
But this garden of bliss meant to be eternal –
Of joy unlimited, boundless, magnificent
Today I am cursed, banished from the garden
I am a fallen man and my pristine quandary
Will sink into the pangs of a fable
Of a bygone age
No more will I wander in the illusions
Of heaven and fruits of death dangle on the trees –

This is the mystery I plunged in –
The riddle is before your doorstep
And I know with your freakish methods will be
Able to resolve for me –

The slender man emaciated by vaporous passion
Of madness miscalled love poured his little mystery before the chain smoker
The doctor in solemn silence listened and shook his head

The slender man with his Romeo like eyes uttered amidst despair
I was the happiest man then and the world was my footstool
I delighted in the rhymes of nature the bosom of the goddess
Of night her wild voluptuous coquetry made me surrender my heart’s treasure
But now I know that love is blind, mad and dangerous
A poisonous concoction for the credulous, an illusion
Of and wrought by a misguided heart
A mystery fleeting – this I want you to resolve for I lost my heart
And I may lose my senses, head all because of love
There is no time left the erstwhile romantic hero gasped despairingly.

The sleuth responded.

My methods of solving this mystery are varied and will like to assist
You arrest such demon of hellish mien but you are equipped already to solve it
For I have heart but it hankers after you know what I am inhaling now
Its dire effect I am perfectly aware

The worshipers of Bacchus swim in the ocean of drunkenness
Very much aware of their states of normalcy but they decided to alter it and in Madden frenzy engage
And the criminal aspires to the legendary status of Robin Hood
If apprehended again aspires to be the bravest person to die with fortitude he smiles whist he is strangled or beheaded
Maintaining his equanimity for his chosen alternative

There is no mystery to be solved or resolved
If you lost your love one let the devil take her
And learn to love and love well
Or do not love at all – this is no mystery.

He puffed his cigarette and reclined on his ancient couch
The doctor sat like a statue
And the slender man arose to leave
Still carrying with him his heart which he claimed to have been broken or destroyed by his former lover!