ghazal ("without you")

Whatever I do is useless   without you
my arguments prove excuseless   without you

you are the flower   and likewise   you're the fruit
my poetry   remains juiceless   without you

don't you exude the answer   questions yearn for?
mind's monologue   can't produce this   without you

the engine of existence   dwells in your smile
the train of thought   is cabooseless   without you

the world's a mere mirage   cast by your shadow
but how could a man deduce this   without you?

every bloke hankers to bloom   his ego's glory
we're powerless to reduce this   without you

granules of truth   ground the cuisine of meaning
what cook has skill   to couscous this   without you?

your blends of energy   brim with jasmine fragrance
our empty cup   can't infuse this   without you

the sober world that looms   darkly comedic --
what loon could Lenny Bruce this   without you?

I'm up the proverbial creek   lacking a paddle
what savant of streams canoes this   without you?

the bend of the note invoking   depth of feeling --
no artist perfectly blues this   without you

your presence crackles electric   like the raincloud
what weatherman could conduce this   without you?

O slender moon!   you're the alchemy of the night
can day transform my obtuseness   without you?

yours is the veil that hides   and then reveals!
no Salome dance seduces   without you

lies poetry in nearness   or perspective?
what vantage truly enthuses   without you?

yours is the whim behind   facades of reason
no chance anyone chooses   without you

the scope of your gaze isn't just   encyclopedic
illusion's pierced!   we confuse this   without you

adrift in the world   a'float in poetry's bubble --
experience   cannot use this   without you

seven seas of feeling echo   with your laughter
Narcissus   emptiness cruises   without you

reports filed from the front   of beauty's backside --
the blundering world   old news is   without you

that fool Raphael   presumed he might cardsharps ace
his babble but "what the deuce!" is   without you