K. Siva Reddy’s “Ode to Love”

“Love shapes the human heart into an everlasting song.”

“Love is like air—unseen, yet sustaining.”

“In love, silence speaks more than words.”

Such reflections on love, such contemplations and insights, are gently unfolded before us by the celebrated poet K. Siva Reddy in his Ode to Love. Ode to Love, or Prema Geetam (A Love Song), stands as one of the most profound explorations in his poetic oeuvre. In this poem, love is not portrayed merely as a romantic emotion but envisioned as a humane, philosophical, and universal force.

Indeed, some forms of love do not enter our lives like festivals. They arrive without fireworks, without garlands of flowers. They move quietly alongside us—like pauses between words, like a silence that lingers in the heart. Ode to Love speaks precisely of such love. This “love song” does not merely celebrate love in exalted tones; it gently places before us the residue of love—the responsibility that accompanies the experience of loving. The poem unfolds as a procession of memories, where each memory transforms into a question:

What is love? Is it something to be possessed, or something to be carried?

In Siva Reddy’s poetry, love is not a flower garden; it is an ongoing foot-journey. It contains fatigue, it contains the desire to pause, but it knows no turning back.

In this poem, love does not reveal a craving to possess another.

Even where distance exists between two individuals, there is the courage to respect that distance.

Here, love carries the past—but that past is not a sealed wound; it is a memory that continues to hold us upright as human beings. In Ode to Love, love does not remain confined within the limits of the body. It transcends the body to become an idea, a moral stance, a quiet form of resistance. Against a world that seeks to dominate love, Siva Reddy positions love as responsibility. Love, he suggests, lies not in declaring “you are mine,” but in allowing the other to remain different without causing harm. After reading this poem, our own memories of love return as a slow procession. They gently knock at the heart. Even if they do not bring joy, they leave behind a sense of responsibility.

Love alone may not complete our lives. But it teaches us how to live more honestly. This, perhaps, is the poet K. Siva Reddy’s silent gift to us through Ode to Love.

Until now, poems about love have generally begun in celebratory tones. Desire, passion, and emotional intensity have become the familiar traits of love poetry. However, in modern Telugu poetry, K. Siva Reddy views love from a distinctly different perspective. Ode to Love is not a eulogy to love; it is a poem that questions the responsibility and moral dimension inherent in the very idea of love. In this poem, love does not remain merely a personal emotion. It evolves into a state of being, a mental awareness, and ultimately a social value. Siva Reddy presents love not as an object to be acquired through selfishness, but as a yearning experience. The poem suggests that the notion of “mine–yours” distorts love. In Ode to Love, love is expressed not amid the noise of breaking bonds, but within silences. The poem quietly asks: What remains for human beings after the excitement of love fades? Siva Reddy offers a clear response—love is not merely union; it is the capacity to respect one another even while remaining separate.

In this poem, love is not limited to the body alone. Moving beyond bodily sensations, love occupies an ethical space. Hence, this love carries no authority, no command, no impulse to possess. It appears as a silent resistance to social tendencies that convert love into domination.

In Siva Reddy’s poetry, love also assumes a political dimension. It speaks not only of relationships between individuals, but also of inequalities within society. To view love as responsibility, he suggests, is to safeguard the freedom of others.

This poem stands apart from approaches that see love merely as an emotional flood; it seeks to establish love as a form of consciousness, as a moral awareness.

Ultimately, Ode to Love tells us one simple truth: love may not make our lives complete, but it guides us toward living more honestly and more humanely. K. Siva Reddy’s Ode to Love remains a significant poem in modern Telugu poetry—one that compels us to rethink love anew.

In Telugu literature, particularly in modern poetry, K. Siva Reddy is among the most influential voices. Born in 1943 in Karmoorivaripalem village of Guntur district, he grew up in a farming family and lost his mother in childhood. He served for 35 years as an English lecturer at Vivek Vardhini College, Hyderabad, retiring as its principal. His poetic journey began in 1973 with his first collection Raktam Suryudu. To date, he has published more than twenty-three poetry collections, including his collected works. He received the Sahitya Akademi Award for Mohanaa! O Mohanaa, the Saraswati Samman for Pakkaki Ottigilit?, and the Kabir Samman, among many other honors. His poetry—rooted in a revolutionary outlook and deep humanism—has influenced an entire generation of Telugu poets.

Siva Reddy’s poetry blends simplicity of language with a rigorous intellectual vision, resonating with emotional intensity. His work touches upon rural life, nature, childhood, women, human faith, exploitation, and revolution.

As he once said, “People may pass away, but poetry remains.” Poetry, in his vision, becomes a weapon for social transformation. This Prema Geetam is not an ordinary love poem; it is a song that takes love itself as the foundation of life. In Siva Reddy’s vision, love alone is the song that sustains humanity—a human song that is not merely personal, but one that resonates across the world.