Day Eight-Napowrimo- Seeking You- A Ghazal

Napowrimo: here’s today’s totally optional prompt!

The ghazal (pronounced kind of like “huzzle,” with a particularly husky “h” at the beginning) is a form that originates in Arabic poetry, and is often used for love poems. Ghazals commonly consist of five to fifteen couplets that are independent from each other but are nonetheless linked abstractly in their theme; and more concretely by their form. And what is that form? In English ghazals, the usual constraints are that:

• the lines all have to be of around the same length (though formal meter/syllable-counts are not employed); and
• both lines of the first couplet end on the same word or words, which then form a refrain that is echoed at the end of each succeeding couplet.

Another aspect of the traditional ghazal form that has become popular in English is having the poet’s own name (or a reference to the poet – like a nickname) appear in the final couplet. 

My take:

Day Eight-Napowrimo- Seeking You- A Ghazal

 

I wandered through the streets of my city looking for you

Soaking in the sun, drenching in the rain, immersed in you

 

I walked the hot-red, coal-laden path, half expecting your call

Brushing aside the cob-webbed bushes, seeking solace in you

 

I entered the million-mirror hall with a lamp flickering in my hand

Only to see a million me all elongated, peering back, dazzling in you

 

The ceramic urn held my coiled self, the lost war within—

The dried-up river, the mountaintop, the breathing air—sprung in you

 

Do you remember the first rain after our first summer, O dear?

I carried you everywhere I went, serene ripples blooming in you

 

The night I spent by your side, you took me in your gaze, longingly—

We sat amid the crumpled stars singing songs curling in you

 

You pointed to the indigo sky, naming each star and constellation

I wound up in your galaxy, traversing light-years nestled in you

 

They cast hurdles here, there, everywhere—we found our desire

The arrow that hit the gazelle, lanced me and pierced into you

 

Where are you? The enemies have assembled here tonight

No crying, no farewell—meet me at the horizon, I shall echo in you

 

The knife that killed you lay beside me, Ah! Sakhi*, forlorn in love

Reassembled herself in the palm of God—a jigsaw puzzle, a missing piece in you.

 

*Sakhi is a pseudonym I use for my writing at times

The first time I tried a ghazal was in 2021 for Poetixu workshop. It was fun! So was this though it took some time to complete. So, what do you think?