The prompt for today via napowrimo.net is to take two lines from any poem that you vaguely remember without looking up the poem itself for inspiration and take it in a different direction. I chose the lines ‘Tis better to have loved and lost/ Than never to have loved at all’ from Alfred, Lord Tennyson‘s ‘In Memoriam‘ that have stuck with me ever since my years in undergrad. It is such a beautiful reminder to have, and even reflected or paraphrased in pop culture (even in this very emotional moment from ‘WandaVision’, IYKYK!).
So many times, I’ve come across quotes that reflect the same sentiments as Lord Tennyson. If you’ve seen quotes that go along the lines of ‘grief is just love with nowhere to go’, you probably know what I am talking about. This is just a sentiment that everyone we know ever has experienced at the loss of people, no matter what the cause was. But I immediately knew this was the one I was going to write about because there is another beautiful quote that resonates with me. It’s ‘I know love exists in the world because I exist’. The more I come across these quotes, and the more I grow up, the more they make sense to me because they hold so much depth even though we fail to see them right away.
It’s also the reason why people hold on to love, no matter how many times they’ve been burned in the past. Because it’s always better to have loved than to have never felt it.
Since the original poem was in mourning for Lord Tennyson’s friend, I decided to give my poem a hopeful direction. It turned out so well that I am starting to think my poetry juju is back in action!
Happy reading. Xx
‘Tis better to have loved and lost
Than never to have loved at all,
For grief is love and loss in one,
When there’s no home for love to call.
Time is too fleeting to not know
How deeply the still waters flow,
We dive into oceans head-first
Only to never stay afloat.
Were it not for that ocean blue
My roads would never lead to you,
My skies would be grey,
My gardens wither, fade away.
One less person known just as deep,
One less mountain scaled just as steep,
I have walked all these roads before,
Now I appreciate them more.
If Time turned back could change,
I’d do it all over again,
Because if love was a folly,
I would never see it as such–
Embracing when it comes calling,
Tragic is the one without love’s touch.
~© Shubhangi Srinivasan.
I hope you liked my poem! You can always let me know what you think of it in the comments below. I would love to hear from you! Feel free to drop in and say ‘Hi’ to me on my socials to see what other shenanigans I am up to, as well!
Be back soon with another poem!
Cheerio! Xx
Featured Image by Tim Marshall on Unsplash
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