By: April Mae M. Berza

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
among a multitude.

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April Mae M. Berza is the author of Confession ng isang Bob Ong Fan (Flipside, 2014.) Her poems and short stories appeared in numerous publications in the US, Canada, Romania, India, Japan, UK and the Philippines. Her poems are translated in Crimean Tatar and Filipino. Some of her poems are published in The Siren, Poetica, Calliope, Maganda, Metric Conversions, Ani, The Manila Times, 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.