Love's Doppelgänger

By Mallika Chandrasekhar

Love’s Doppelgänger

Looks and seems like Love

It’s hard to tell them apart

She’s dressed in similar finery

Gorgeous and beautifully made up

Unblemished in feature and skin

Impossible to detect

A difference or a variation

Love’s Doppelgänger

Confess, professes, and expresses

Exactly as Love

Yet behind every word, each intent

There’s a sinister plot and ploy

Deception’s the name of the game

Fooling the mind

Cheating the heart

Playing with true feelings

Love’s Doppelgänger

Is cruel and cold

Executing with precision

Twisting words

Distorting meaning

Brushing aside the truth

Hiding from uncomfortable conversations

Camouflaging the real

Espousing the raw

Love’s Doppelgänger

Does it all with such finesse

While real Love

Lurks unhappily in the background

Searching and seeking

Ways and a voice

To prove reliability and creditability

But like a Lie in Truth’s finery

Love’s Doppelgänger

Struts and strides

With impunity and irresponsibility

In true Love’s garb and gait

A paragon of virtue

With wicked vicious intent

To ruin and wreck

Love’s true aim and image

Which is to hold, to heal, to help

Evolve another’s heart and soul!

By Mallika Chandrasekhar