Melodies In The Night : A Lover’s Whisper
I Whispered the wind, “If you were by my side,” just like a dream that fades your fingers, disappearing between the sand and the tide.
The cool air, brushing against the leaves, felt like a lover’s gentle caress on my skin, soft as silk in the stillness after the rain.
The night sighed with heaviness and fullness on my skin as if even the earth radiated my desire. The land lay soaked with the memory of a storm in its skin.
The rhythm of each raindrop pulsed like the steady beat of a heart through the strings of my soul as if the skies were writing us a song only we could hear.
A restless bird fluttered in my heart, and its wings trembled as it hovered near my window.
The bird seemed to bear the weight of my longing on its thin wings, and every beat echoed the pain that made me shudder.
For a brief second, I considered how it would feel to have you here as I stood by the window where love’s shadow frequently appeared.
When you were gone, I felt lost in a sea of want, like a void in the atmosphere.
Again, I whispered to the stars, “If only you were by my side,” my words as fragile as a moth’s wing, quivering in the night air.
My heart blossomed for the first time, just like the first bud that opened on the flowering plant I planted in the yard.
Each petal unfolded like a whispered promise, delicate and tender. The fragrance that filled the space was like a lover’s kiss, soft and intoxicating, wrapping me in the warmth of memories that had yet to be made.
I could almost feel your presence, as accurate as the breeze that wove through the leaves, as my thoughts lingered like curls of smoke around a Dimming flame, innocent and helpless, like fine strands twisted by the moon.
I heard the sounds of old love stories like the wings of doves that had flown to the rapidly descending darkness inside me.
These songs, originally the property of long-dead lovers, suddenly became ours, their echo running sweetly through my veins like honey through the rivers of my heart.
Each chord and note was a sorrowful echo of what’s in the rearview mirror and what lies ahead, an echo of what could’ve been and still may be.
And as those songs swirled like a flurry of autumn leaves in a gentle gust, and everything suddenly stood still for a heartbeat, I thought, “If only you were right beside me.”
It was a mere thought, passing like the perfume of a flower carried off in the wind or the sound of a melody trailing into twilight.
It slipped from my mind like a wisp of fog in the morning sunlight, and I was there alone with the muted sigh of the night.
A Note:
Thank You for reading. Inspired by ONV Kurup’s ability to capture deep emotions in simple words, his poetry resonates with nature’s and life’s rhythms. ONV, a celebrated Malayalam poet and lyricist, beautifully intertwined love, longing, and social concerns. His verses, like the soft breeze or rain, reflected the essence of Kerala’s culture, touching the hearts of many with their timeless wisdom and grace
The poem captures the deep yearning of a soul longing for a lost love, intertwining emotions with the beauty of nature. It speaks of fleeting moments, like raindrops on leaves and melodies fading into dusk, symbolising the fragility of desires unfulfilled. The imagery of a restless heart, tender breezes, and blooming flowers reflects the bittersweet harmony between love, loss, and hope, creating an emotional tapestry of longing and remembrance.
This poem reflects on the subtle dynamics between love, longing, and the passage of time, using nature to mirror human hearts. It starts with the lover calling the winds, reminiscing, and longing for someone who made them whole and happy. In this longing, it’s a fleeting dream, a beautiful thing that is not to be grasped. This longing is compared to a fleeting dream, something beautiful yet intangible, like grains of sand slipping through fingers—a reminder of the transience of cherished moments.
A breeze, acting as a lover’s breath, so soft and tender, replacing what is no longer there. The implication that the night is full and heavy is as if the world understands the lover’s longing. At the same time, the land, soaked in the remembrances of a storm, captures the impression that love lives on or symbolises the lingering traces of love even after its intensity has passed. These raindrops falling according to a rhythm sounds like the beating of a heart, which strongly emphasises how far the speaker is inside nature and how much their emotions are within nature.
The bird fluttering at the window, restless, beautiful, has all the weight of longing, its trembling wings mirroring the speaker’s emotional vulnerability. This imagery suggests that longing is not just a mental state but a physical ache that resonates throughout the body and soul; it is an ache that pumps through our skin, bones, and soul. This shadow of love, symbolised by the window, emphasizes that even though love may not be physically around, it is always there in thoughts and memories.
The poem also explores the bittersweet quality of longing, where the songs of love — once a shared duet — become a reminder of both what was and what could have been. Familiar melodies belonging to lovers who have long departed become personal to the speaker, coursing through their veins like honey, with a sweetness that is also distinctly painful.
Ultimately, the poem contemplates the impermanence of feelings and memories, likening them to the smell of a flower blown away by the wind or the melody of a tune slipping into the twilight. It encapsulates the duality of longing as a painful emptiness and a soft beacon of love’s lasting presence, even away from the one you love. The speaker’s grounding connection with nature throughout the poem reinforces the human experience and how human emotions impact the rest of the world as much as they resonate.
