I have a strange problem these days
The power to passionately hate
Is ebbing away day by day
I want to hate the English
(Who ruled over us for two centuries)
But then Shakespeare appears in front of me
To whom I owe so much
I try to hate the Muslims
But Ghalib gets in the way
You tell me โ can anyone stand up
To him?
I want to hate the Sikhs
But Guru Nanak fills my vision
And my head bows of its own accord
And this Kamban, Thyagaraja, Muthuswamyโฆ
A million times I tell myself
They are not mine
Theyโre from the far South
But my heart does not rest
Until it makes them my own
And that woman I loved
Who betrayed me for the first time
Iโll kill her as soon as I see her!
I do see her, but
Sometimes she meets me as friend
Sometimes a mother
Sometimes like a sister
And I swallow a gulp of love.
All my days
I wander like a madman
Looking for someone I can
Hate to my heartโs content
And feel light!
But the opposite happens
Someone, at some place or time
I find that
I cannot help but love!
Day by day, my love disease is growing
And a suspicion has taken root
That one day this love
Will send me straight to heaven
