Many kinds of love

Many kinds of love

Only parental love is unconditional

Parents love their child

Mostly with no strings attached

No value judgement precedes nor succeeds

This love, probably, chooses to overlook

Achievements, successes or otherwise,

Even cruel acts or crimes.

Just that it is there, because

They shared their body and

created this person.

Filial love, if siblings are closer 

in age, starts with jealousy

From having to share parental time and affection.

Metamorphoses in to caring and giving,

Parents and social norms see to compliance

With age old norms of behaviour.

Marriage brings in physical distance

And mental too. Demonstrations are

Limited to annual, ritual meetings

Exchange of gifts and goodwill.

Birth of the next generation

Brings back the cycle of comparison 

And jealousy.

Love of material possessions

Is an ever growing hunger, with an infinite

Appetite, if you let what you eat, wear, ride 

or live define you.

For there is always someone with more. 

One day the mirror laughs back at you

Like a demented fiend and shows

The naked you bereft of possessions.

Very few are spared this me-versus-me

Showdown. 

The emptiness of it all is inevitable,

Advancing age gives everyone a dose

Of spirituality.

Conjugal love, at least for India

Starts with pure undiluted lust,

nurtured from youth. Grows slowly

To the mental level, never declared

Fortunately not having to subjugate

Oneself to western ritual, oft repeated daily,

" Love you" and "Love you too!"

And seeking constant reassurances.

For us mostly, it is

Slowly adjusting to each other's angularities.

Love shows itself in small acts.

Children make sure there are no overt 

Exhibitions of affection. Sex is the only physical contact, sly, hurried and at the dead of night.

With children as the locus,

Parents on different orbits, stereotyped though

Father the provider and

Mother the care giver,

Love slowly suffocates with passing age.

Old age changes it to habit and just

Accepting that the spouse is there

And that is about all.

Children's love for their parents

Is conditional. The Not OK child

Does bear grudges, real or imagined.

The transition of the child to the adult

Is almost fraught with turbulence.

The OK adult rationalises and reciprocates,

When convenient, the lifetime of love received.