Featured Illustration: Samiksha Singh
Love is meant to be pure
Golden streams
Of honey
A heart traveling
One to another
Without any stop signs
Natural
Not contaminated
Or filtered by conditions
A heart
That’s an open book
Misunderstood at times
But loved by others
Pages
Now smothered
By neighbouring dust
Trapped in mind’s lockers
The golden stream
Barricaded by conditions
Fabricated
To fit a corrupted
Love’s blueprint
When did love
Turn from a simple
And genuine “I love you”
To pre-requisites
Like being embellished
In jewelry
Or playing mind games
To test love’s opportunities
When did it become
Less of a feeling
And more of a contract