Sunday, January 23, 2005

Song for Unrequited Love



Bliss Cua Lim teaches at the Department of English and Comparative Literature at the University of the Philippines, Diliman. “Song for Unrequited Love” is taken from her latest collection of poems, “Poems From Two Places”. What really intrigues me about this poem is that it is a tad bit more poignant than the usual prose. Though the imageries can be quite vague at first glance, personally, I felt the overall ardor exuded by the poem.

Ralph Mendoza


Song for Unrequited Love
Bliss Cua Lim



You turn towards me and your face fills the frame.
All spaces and moments collapse in these eyes, this smile,
the sudden rush of tenderness that seizes me.

I long to nourish you like the night.
I want to watch over your strength as you slumber,
and tend the sinews of your softness.

If only it were possible,
I would woo you without compunction,
and when I won you, would
cherish you as shadows do that shelter
the wounded, exquisite lineaments of the moon:
with the grateful ardor of lovers who know
contingent evenings cede to the obtrusive dawn.


(Source: Cua Lim, Bliss. Poems From Two Places. Pasig City:Anvil Publishing Inc. 1995.)

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Too much love to give but no one to give it to. A feeling so strong but restrained. It must feel so bad for a person to know how much love, care, affection she can give a certain person but cant because her feelings is not reciprocated. If it was me, i would want that person to feel even for just a minute how much live i can give then i could only hope he would feel the same way for me. For him just to know that i love him is enough. For him to love me too would be a dream come true. :)

--melinda p. yoingco, I-BS Comtech

Anonymous said...

I immediately acknowledge the sincerity conveyed in this poem. It embodies the reality of unrequited love and how it can bring such an overpowering feeling of surrender to whom it is directed. Images such as one's eyes and smile, as well as the night, the moon, and the dawn, help to strengthen what the reader may seem as hazy. Although the idea of unreciprocated love may bring about a sense of bitterness or defeat, this poem is able to illustrate the more passive nature of one who is hoping for another's change of heart.

--rachel de mesa