Jaihoon’s poem explores the possessive nature of love, comparing it to a jealous wine that demands complete ownership.
Whoever drank shall know
The truths in this river flow:
Love is a jar, brimmed
With the jealous wine.
Who consumes, shouts:
“You are only mine.”
The beloved has no other self;
She is locked inside his shelf.
Nightingale insists:
Only his song be heard.
The Rose to ignore all,
Only pay him heed.
The Shell demands
The Pearl to reside.
Nowhere else shall
Its beauty confide.
Leila’s eyes
Hold him so dear;
Except Majnun,
Not a soul to appear.
When at last
Her whole self submit,
Then at her feet
Shall be his summit.
25 Aug 2010. Edit March 2024
