Poem: Was it ever meant to be?

After an intriguing week with the Chinese Empress, Wu Zetian ( podcast, television series), Guqin poetry ( go figure), and a couple of deals in the making, somewhere I needed to hit a soft spot. Here is my favorite one.

Poem: Was it ever meant to be

My …, or should it be my…
This word is so possessive –
Was it ever meant to be
It is ‘my’ word, yet it was-
Was it ever meant to be mine
I haven’t even uttered the next word
What would I fill in …
My … or my … a word can never fill

Like the way you filled my heart
With that warm feeling –
For the first time,
unlike ever before
And replenished it over and over

Today, you fill my eyes
With that warm feeling,
Not for the first time,
Never like before
And replenished it over and over

Still, I can’t fill in the blanks
The three dots remain still unfilled
Like my past, present, and future
And I never know till now –
Was it ever meant to be?
But I know it was my first
And I know it was love.

~Ashok Subramanian © 2025