Cupid's Dart Or Eros's Bough Poem by Gayathri Seetharam

Cupid's Dart or Eros's Bough
-Gayathri B. Seetharam
University of Toronto is an enzyme for fame and fortune
And I await a new era which is now and happening
When I shall make a name and money
And have more ideas for research;

Wishful thinking, you say!
I say bashful ranking of myself dictates it
For the III law of Isaac Newton is being disproved in my case
Every action is not resulting in an equal and positive reaction, leastways in my direction;

However, on the homefront, I am on the rebound
From a loving husband who nevertheless, plays hard to get
When wittily or enticingly or wistfully, I invite him for sexual escapades
Which brings me to the debate as to whether I want undying love for my personality or an insatiable appetite for my face and body;

Both, of course, for an older gal who hits 50 this June, loves to be loved and desired
For there is not the supreme blitheness of youth
When I had quite a few admirers
And apart from my husband with whom it was love at first sight
I had a young, fair, eligible and handsome man, Nagesh,
Who waited more than a month for me to say the magic word, Yes, to his marriage proposal;

I did refuse to marry him for I wanted a young man equally eligible and reasonably attractive
Who would let me study in graduate school in USA or Canada
Was Nagesh's heart broken, I wonder now
Did he patch up his heart and make his way in the world;

Being somewhat beset by these thoughts after all these years
I am overcome, momentarily, by the thought that I was a most unsympathetic young lady
But also the thought that I did not lay it out in plain terms to him
That I would have cared for more natural swagger and some more of the loverlike attitude;

He was the strong, silent type
And much as I like my man to say, My mate or any other epithet he chooses to pick for me,
And kiss me overpoweringly, crushing my lips and shocking me with his tongue invading my mouth,
I had the arrogant temerity to presume that as Jane Austen put it in Lady Susan
Nagesh was comparatively deficient in the power of saying those delightful things
Which put one in good humour with oneself and all the world;

Surely, I do all passionate men an injustice
When I say that they do not know how to make love in romantic language
But being a beautiful and sensuous woman,
I do take joy in sensual delights also if it is accompanied by a generous purse
And hence I must confess that both undying love professed by a man
And an insatiable appetite for me possessed by the same man
Would be the decidedly gentlemanly thing for a husband or lover.
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Please note that I read Wikipedia's publication on Apollo and Daphne for I was looking for Eros's bough. It is because 2 summers ago, I found boughs in the garden. Wikipedia had a most interesting story and ended by saying that Apollo granted Daphne undying youth and immortality. This is symbolised by the bay leaf which is evergreen. Bay leaves are used in Indian cooking and would be a flavourful ingredient in Western cooking. My analogy here is that my hope for resumed earnings is evergreen as is my love for my husband and son.