I Not Only…

I not only adored her,

I celebrated every moment.

I not only loved her,

I lived in everything.

I not only wanted happiness,

I learned to live with her sorrows.

I not only romanticised her,

I worshipped her completely.

I not only desired her,

I taught myself gentleness.

I not only praised her form,

I prayed like it was divine.

I not only wanted pleasure,

I accepted even pain.

I not only missed her,

I measured my days by her silence.

I not only trusted her,

I doubted myself instead.

I not only waited for her,

I learned patience as a habit of breathing.

I not only remembered her voice,

I replayed it when the world went quiet.

I not only held onto hope,

I negotiated with reality for her return.

I not only accepted her distance,

I made a place for it inside my heart.

I not only loved her presence,

I survived her absence too.

By

Sanji-Paul Arvind

**Do not judge my life based on my poems; My Poems and my life are 2 different things.