To love is a tragedy--By April Mae M. Berza--Philippines

To love is a tragedy

To love is a tragedy,
it is to die a million times
in the arms of Aphrodite.

To love is a tragedy,
it is a surrender, a defeat
when you could have been
an oasis with me
or I could have been
an archipelago with you.

Islands, we are islands
submerged in this emotion.

We try to be one
but we are divided
by the politics of reason.

To love is a tragedy,
it is a fiasco, another fiasco,

a thorn among the roses.

April Mae M. Berza is the author of Confession ng isang Bob Ong Fan (Flipside, 2014) and Berso de Berza (Charging Ram, 2012.) Her poems and short stories appeared in numerous publications in the America, France, Canada, Romania, India, Japan, Great Britain and the Philippines. Her poems are translated in Crimean Tatar and Filipino. Some of her poems are published in Liwayway, Belleville Park Pages, Haiku Journal, The Siren, Poetica, Three Line Poetry, Calliope, Maganda, Metric Conversions, Ani, The Manila Times, Asahi Haikuist Network, Contemporary Verse 2, and elsewhere. Her poem "E-Martial Law" was broadcast on IndoPacific Radio on KPFA 94.1FM/kpfa.org. She is a member of Poetic Genius Society. She lives in Taguig, Philippines.