In his poem “Life,” Purushottama Lal presents life as “a flower with five petals”: love, faith, hope, something he cannot see, and something terrible. Let's look at each of these and explore the images Lal uses to describe them.

The flower image starts the poem. This suggests that, overall, life is something beautiful and desirable. Yet there are negative aspects to it is as well. The first petal, love, is described by the image of a bee lusting after a flower. The idea here is that love is often blended with lust.

The second petal, faith, is a treasure, but it can lose some of its value when it is used too fastidiously, when it is, perhaps, imposed on others. The third petal is hope, which is described using the images of a “brooding breast” and a “blood-splattered bird.” Hope is what sustains people in the worst of times.

The speaker claims that he cannot see the fourth petal, and he describes it through the image of a “limp hand” reaching out to touch land. This is desire that continues to stretch out even when it seems that it will never be realized. This is perseverance against all odds.

Finally, the fifth petal is wrapped in a “terrible Book.” This seems to be suffering, which is always a part of life.