Who to fall in love with? Gender or Person? : Prompt by IndianLegion in their poetry contest in the book Pride Month | Indian Ally.

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Love– it's the strangest thing that I have seen,
Amidst numerous other emotions
I see this is a virtue
But like every other good thing and fallen angel
So much misunderstood.

Love is as diverse as this world
As mysterious as this galaxy
As old as Time
Yet, we try to restrict its flow
To conventionality.

I see not the face
Not the flesh on the bust
Not the curve of the waist
Or what you tag yourself as, against the box of gender.

But what I see, is the depth
Of your gaze
The rhythm of your smile
The clinking sound of your anklet
The ice cream sticking to your lips
The messy bun and the jasmine clinging
The birthmark on your chin
The way you are a pretty boy
Or how you are the Empress ruling.

I see how you cross the boundaries
Like the Mercury of changing seasons
Once you become the Ice Princess
And then drape the cloak of Spring's Page
Like an organised mess of stars and shine
Your glory is the creation in making.

Love and lesbian begin the same place
And a gay man is happy
Two is always better than one
Often being more than a single individual is enough
And often, we are all charming weirdos
Like the peacock dancing among sheep.

If you will call the peacock mad
Or a sight of miracle,
Let your perspective decide.

I can only bless your eyes
And give a rose to your heart
And pray that you may
See love as colourful as the rainbow.

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This is my entry for the poetry contest held by IndianLegion

Let me explain some of the lines for simplicity

•In astrology, Mercury is a planet of duality, transition, change and fluidity. It is associated with the dusk and dawn, the change of seasons too, and on the sexual spectrum as someone who cannot be labelled as either a man or woman,matching with their biological sex, because Mercury can identify with the other diverse ways of life, like being gay, lesbian, queer, non-binary, etc.

So that particular paragraph and "crossing boundaries" refer to exploration of identities (of course healthily), realising yourself and being unique.

•Page is someone who is training for knighthood and has been used to refer to masculine. Apart from that, Pages in tarot card reading represent youthfulness, a new journey or enterprise, a very energetic fellow, thus connecting to spring.

•Gay, of course, means happy!

•Two is Bi (so bisexual)

•Often being more than a single individual is enough– tried referring to trans people, who identify with a sexual identity different from the one they get labelled biologically

•Charming weirdos/peacock – queer and everyone diverse!