The Muse Writes Back

 

Susmitha Akula, SYBA

"Fall in love with an artist, and they'll immortalize you."
But what if I don't want to be immortalized
What if I don't want to be put on a pedestal
One I could never stand true to.

Why am I obligated
to love you by the rules
of someone else’s story?
When I can only love you the way I know how.

Love seems to be something perfect,
Something written in books a hundred years ago.
But what if I can't love you that way?
What if I don't understand that language at all?
What if our definitions of love stand completely different?

If love for you is art, books, and poetry
for me, it's you-
You aside the poetry
in shared meals
in whispers
in deep slumber
In warm mornings
and colder nights.

What if I'm a poet too?
One who might forget the lines
but never the meaning.
Who remembers you’d choose wildflowers over roses,
Talk to your houseplant,
And fall asleep with music still playing.

So what if,
I’m not just a muse you immortalized
but also a poet,
Whose muse is you.
who loves you in ways,
maybe different than yours.

But loves with all I know of love,
all I know of you.