ghazal ("where have you gone?")

When candidly I ask   where have you gone?
with silence as your mask   where have you gone?

beyond the effervescence of beginnings
where empty sits the flask   where have you gone?

you were so bounteous   with hope & promise
let me take you to task   where have you gone?

inadequate   proves every explanation
flowing from reason's cask   where have you gone?

a basket filled with figs   for Cleopatra!
she mentioned death by asp   where have you gone?

when jewelers spread their wares   beware the dazzle
where price exceeds your grasp   where have you gone?

the musk-deer went in search   of heady fragrance
our hearts desire your musk   where have you gone?

I lose you   in a hundred lines of discourse
forgive me if I'm brusque   where have you gone

I meant "where are you?"   not "what was the menu?"
forget tomato bisque   where have you gone?

the chick within its nest   is sitting pretty!
one rude push   comes with risk   where have you gone?

no rice within the bag?   in floral districts
the water trade is brisk   where have you gone?

we'd go to endless concerts in that city
of Debussy & Liszt   where have you gone?

such tales of light resounded   like a dream-world!
before our eyes could bask   where have you gone?

that heist was so banal!   I'd call it hackneyed
the de rigueur ski-mask?   where have you gone?

they say   you've moved to India   for your painting!
sounds rather Gauguinesque   where have you gone?

deep poets absorb Tasawwuf   morn & evening
till such a cup is quaffed   where have you gone?

Farhad!   don't yet describe your wondrous needle!
until the mountain's cleft   where have you gone?

Majnun was like the other lads   till Laila's
stray glance set him adrift   "where have you gone?"

I thought I caught your scent   but then you vanished
here winds forever waft   where have you gone?

for Raphael you posed   demented riddles
he's lost it   & gone daft   where have you gone?