Love Nowadays

By: Mpho (MrSir) Matlhabegoane

Nowadays, love can get your hair softer,
It’s conditional – more about what you can offer.
Pretty subliminal in how it is approached.
With your mind in, but the body leaning on fence poles.

Even with all these maximised access to internet,
Communications aren’t maintained well.
Imagine getting, “I was busy the whole day” for not getting a call, a text or a tweet.
But dare entertain those whose heed come with ease, they are never too busy to call it quits.

Is it because of the volume of exposure we have for substitutions?
I mean – how many times are we gonna change partners before we realise the mix-up it does on our spiritual constitution?
Yes, every person can be replaceable,
If you swap what they bring to the table.
But, what about the one who can feed your soul?
Why choose temporary pleasure over being whole?

Nowadays, Love is redefined to condone greed and impurity.
They make it sound like it can offer a cheat immunity.
As if it’s really love when spouses do not share a house and sheets –
And when couples are open to outsourcing intimacy.

It’s the easy way or no way for them.
But they demand realness and no cap.
Preaching genuineness,
But nobody ever seeks
Forbearance.
I mean, haven’t you heard –
That truth hurts?

Love, nowadays, is in need of systems used in the olden times.
Where, between truth and lies, and facts and opinions, were very fine lines.
Love, nowadays, is not holy,
Love, nowadays, is not wholly.

Rationale: From one era to another, the concept of love has been altered to fit different generational trends and agendas. It is by no surprise that in the world of social media, where human connections are rather more online than physical, that love is getting scarce and transactional, if not entirely extinct. So, I wrote a poem, titled, “Love Nowadays” to highlight what love has turned out to be in the modern world.

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About the author:

Mpho (MrSir) Matlhabegoane is one of the A! Hub Writers. He became an Activator in 2019, and through Activate! Change Drivers, he underwent educational training with Programmes such as SWITCH Entrepreneurship Programme, National Mentorship Movement with Printing SA and Citizen Journalism with The University of Witwatersrand (Wits). He is a Mental Health Awareness Advocate, and to spread mental health awareness, he published three books that have been accepted by Gauteng Department of Education as of 2023, namely: The Story of MrSir (Word For The Record), Expanding The World Of Nerds, and Views and Emotions (Poetry Journal of MrSir).