The Poem of the Month (July, 2009): I LOVE YOU

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In my youth, I had written this poem. It was published in Bangla (Bengali) in the Pratibeshi, the national Catholic weekly in Bangladesh, in its March 19, 1972 issue. Here I provide the English rendition of the poem for your poetic enjoyment.

I Love You

By Jerome D'Costa

You are my darling, I love you.
You're my constant companion,
I don't "feel good" without you!

I caress you
Holding your hands. I search for your beauty
In every fold and curve, When you expose your shapely body
In front of me.

You talk so much,
So much so, that you spill all your secrets.
I become forgetful of myself,
I listen to every word of yours
With rapt attention;
You enjoy my intentness,
That's why you tell me
All you have to tell.

Sometimes you make me laugh,
Sometimes you make me cry,
At times you make me titillated,
Other times you make me frightened or thrilled. I can be with you
Leaving all works behind, I can be absorbed with you, Without touching my meals.

Sometimes you speak in prose,
At times in verses,
Other times in hard metaphors. Your figures of speech
Befuddle me.
I take time in decoding your words,
What a joy you receive
In making me such a fool!
But that's how our love
Turns from the deep to the deeper.

When I'm on leave
And go to my rural home,
Or go to some distant location, If I'm, by chance, without your companionship,
I feel "uneasy, awkward."
I become anxious
For hearing from you.

Darling, I love you,
You're so beautiful, so loving --
You're my sweetheart,
My intimate and beloved.

Many wonder aloud: Who are you?
You are none,
But my goddess of wisdom -- a book!