Love 1 - Love Is All Embracing Poem by Geeta Radhakrishna Menon

Love is all embracing,
Pure and sublime
Which flows and keeps flowing
Like a never ending stream;
From the eternal river,
Pouring out the elixir of love,
Love that gushes out unreservedly,
From each cell of the body,
Through each pore of the skin,
From the depths of the heart,
Spreading its aroma,
Into the wide Universe!

Love is all embracing,
Love - that goes on and on,
Not like a sentence,
Punctuated with commas, colons
And full stops!
Nay! Not like a long sentence either,
That goes on into paragraphs,
Pages and paperbacks!
Like an eternal Bible,
That delivers the sermons,
Sprinkling its message,
Into every corner of the world!

Love is all embracing
Love that does not confine nor is confined,
To any shape size or structure,
Not a square, rectangle or triangle,
It is not like a street
Ending in a narrow lane,
Or a one-way street with a blind end.
It is not a box that can be shut and locked,
That remains safe and secure in a bank locker.
Love is like an open blue sky,
Where thousands of stars twinkle and smile
Brightly and beautifully, at the same time!

Love is all embracing,
Complete and fulfilled!
A part of the world starves,
Not of poverty alone like in Africa and India!
The world suffers,
Not just of food for the hungry,
Or of roof for the unsheltered,
Not even a rag for the unclothed,
But the world suffers and cries due to starvation of love!
Physical apathy is remediable.
But O! What about the apartheid?
That many people suffer from - the apartheid of love!

Love is all embracing,
Like the love of Gopis for their beloved Krishna,
The cowherd damsels of Vrindävana
Filled their hearts with the sweet strains
Of the magical flute - the spontaneous love,
Pure and unalloyed,
Singing with a honeyed voice,
Dancing with a languishing grace,
Breathing with a lingering whisper,
Flitting through the mundane affairs,
Yet, frolicking with the divine flute player,
Drunken profusely with nectar of divine love!
It was Krishna the flute player everywhere,
Nothing else mattered or existed,
Content, happy, no grievances, no complaints!
Only the sound of flute, a divine ecstasy!
All surrendered unto Him - the supreme Lord.
No more wishes, no more wandering thoughts,
Only 'Bhakti' - the path of divine love,
The pure 'Atma'merging with the purest 'Paramatma'!

Love is all embracing,
Like the love of Mother Mary,
Holy Mary -Full of Grace,
Beautiful and blessed,
Mother of God- Jesus Christ,
The Virgin Mother - Incarnation of God.
The ‘Word' of love - the ‘light' of truth!
The generous Mother Mary poured comfort and solace
To the weary, suffering souls,
Leading them towards the path of salvation!
To live a powerful and perfect life
Love needs to be showered
Without any reservations or resistance!
Forgiveness and tolerance,
Essential ingredients of love too!
When Mother Teresa held in her arms
The sick and forsaken,
She practised true Christian virtues
Of service with love,
And sacrifice without a murmur!

Love is all embracing,
Like the love of Jalaluddin Rumi for his God
And the wandering mystic Shams Tabriz!
Rumi's bond of intense emotion
Transformed and transmitted him
Into the realm of spiritual splendour!
Rumi's fantastic work of exquisite poetry
Of love- God and man-and the unity behind
'La'illaha il Allahu'-there is no reality other than God-
That sowed the seeds of love,
Pouring and converting the words of fragrance
Into exquisite lyrics of unimaginable joy!
The words of wisdom travelled like a wild wind,
From east to west, north to south
Purifying the souls that loved,
Leaving behind a heritage of love,
For the entire generation of the Sufis!
Rumi says: "Be drunken in love for love is all that matters,
Loved and lover will survive eternity,
Do not attach to anything but love."

Love is all embracing,
Like the loving compassion of Buddha,
A divine soul filled with infinite love
For the entire world and its Beings!
Siddharta's heart melted at this sight
Of the sick, the old and the dead,
Perturbed and troubled - He pondered.
Why should man suffer?
How can man eliminate sufferings?
Profound thoughts that haunted his questioning mind.
He left all - in search of Truth
Into thick forests amidst tranquil Nature!
Relentless meditation and persistent contemplation
Earned Siddharta spiritual illumination under a Bodhi tree.
He became the enlightened Buddha!
Buddha's merciful heart perceived love in all souls;
Be it a human, an animal or a tiny creature,
Be it a flower, creeper, leaf, or a even a stone;
An ocean of empathy - Buddha spread the fragrance
Of love and compassion, into every corner of this world!

Love is all embracing,
Eyes searching for the feast of love,
Ears straining for the sweet melody of love,
Nose seeking the fragrance of love,
Lips spelling the magic of love,
Fingers softening for the touch of love,
The five sensitive organs play
An amusing game of love!
Yet, this love so sweet and sensual,
Alas! A flitting merriment of self-indulgence
Momentary, fluctuating,
But sadly, transitory and impermanent!

Love is all embracing,
That should emerge from deep within
Limitless and infinite!
Without barriers or boundaries,
With no tall orders or terse rules,
Without any expectations or rewards!
Love has to be shared,
Love has to be offered,
Love has to be showered,
Continuously and graciously,
Generously and universally,
Into the wide, wide world!