This is for the ladies. Amidst all the funniness abounding in the verse, there is a subtle message of self love and self reliance.

Here’s hoping that we can always read between the literal and figurative noisy lines that may be thrown at us in the name of love. And that our peace of mind and our sense of self worth always supersede other enterprises of the liver (jigar) and the heart!

No offence to my male family, friends and acquaintances - these are truth-telling times!

He said I love you 
Like I have never loved another 
I said you’re 48 and you’re still 
Looking for that perfect other?

Surely you’ve felt something in that realm
You have walked down lovers lanes 
Were you perchance arm in arm 
With your tonic and your gin? 
And not a woman whom you’d consider 
A partner and a friend 
No, she was always just a trip 
A means towards an end
Each bedecked your evenings out  
The “I love yous” that left your lips  
Were whispered as sweet nothings 
In between your boozy sips
And now you tell me that 
You’re in love with me too 
Except it’s not your usual form
You don’t know what’s happened to you!
Maybe your three-month romances 
Would extend to five with me 
But the Shallow Hal* in you, pal 
Is still waiting to count to three 
And then your extra special 
Trademark escape artistry 
Will take center stage 
It’ll be the same old page 
From your book of Love for Free 

That day he said I love you 
Like I have never loved before 
I said dear boy you wouldn’t know true love 
If it speared you in your gall bladder  

* Shallow Hal: A 2001 Hollywood Rom-Com in which Hal, a shallow man who only dates attractive women, falls in love with Rosemary, after being hypnotized to see the inner beauty of women, not knowing that she is obese.