ghazal: "the case is"

The case is   that the poetry   is meditation
the basis of the poetry   is meditation

the tortoise can outstrip the hare   as Aesop noted
their race is   amid poetry   our meditation

disorientation!   what is real or false?   Maya
displaces love   and poetry   and meditation

in mazes of thought we're lost   who'll reveal the roadmap?
each phase is found in poetry   as meditation

as night departs rose dawn appears   brambling bright nights and
dark days!   this is our poetry   and meditation

O grimace   of the desert   what inspires your grin?
oasis   in the poetry   is meditation

your eyes are our light!   lead us toward your deep embrace
your gaze is known in poetry   as meditation

you pull us through vast universes   small craft put through
their paces   lost in poetry   and meditation

the knowledge of the infinite   isn't bought cheaply
bliss blazes   into poetry   in meditation

become for us   more palpable   than mere illusion
your place is   in our poetry   O meditation

your visage when unseen   where does your smile reach us?
your face is   in the poetry   and meditation

we grow distraught   when our search fails   who'l email you?
come grace us   in the poetry   and meditation

when you come   no one can stop you   when you go   you're gone
you chase us   in the poetry   and meditation

write us   we will read you!   come correct every error!
erase us   in the poetry   and meditation

protect us   where it matters!   the onslaught of Maya
won't mace us   in the poetry   and meditation

what a word is   requires   diverse definitions
a phrase is   in the poetry   our meditation

if you thaw our hearts   you'll recognize   what tears we weep
unglace us   in the poetry   and meditation

you transcend all praise   humbly   we survey your margins
your praise is   in our poetry   and meditation

none can distinguish   any more   the heads from tails
this haze is   in our poetry   and meditation

if the shoe fits   you can wear it   and wander the world
unlace us   in the poetry   and meditation

every card you deal us   brings anguish or gratitude
your ace is   in our poetry   pure meditation

your image is our refuge   your shade our ecstasy
our space is   in time's poetry   your meditation

why dwell remote?   O Nearness!   Raphael complains
embrace us   in our poetry   and meditation


[this is not yet the final version]

ghazal: "the full price"

The full price you exact is precise   though it takes a long time
truth will triumph by twirling the dice   though it takes a long time

the conditions for learning are everywhere   all is our school
we've been studying fire and ice   though it takes a long time

the belovèd is hidden   her veil is beauty's caprice
one could make the whole film with no splice   though it takes a long time

fine cuisine thrives on contrast   the sour's in need of the sweet
you could cook with mere sunlight and rice   though it takes a long time

if the yarn be a fiction   the dream it spins out yet enchants
worlds emerge and subside in a trice   though it takes a long time

if we're fighting   let's fight from the heart   love is dark as a sea
hold your fire till glimpsing white eyes   though it takes a long time

I don't know about oceans   but pearls come from somewhere perchance
pearl-like tears grow pelagic in price   though it takes a long time

what I glimpse of you   though a mere hint   brings my rash heart delight
I grow bold to unmask your disguise   though it takes a long time

I desired a story to lull me   and ease obscure pain
you obliged with a cosmic device   though it takes a long time

our surrender to you was ordained   from the very first dawn
each dusk moves a small turn of the vice   though it takes a long time

could it be you're the one I was waiting for?   life is absurd
there's a twist to the meshwork of sighs   though it takes a long time

every curving design's   a mark   of her smiling blinkers
we'll be blindsided by her white thighs   though it takes a long time

such autumnal thoughts!   curtains descend at the end of each act
spring's implied   floral answers arise   though it takes a long time

won't the candle proves useless   unless you've a pocketed match?
there's a singular curl when flame dies   though it takes a long time

the value of things peters out   what we cherish eludes us
our confusion encounters demise   though it takes a long time

I was born ululating   my cry is a sign of my life
others weep when this minstrelsy dies   though it takes a long time

tone the volume down   speak in a whisper   if meanings are real
those who listen   acknowledge truth's size   though it takes a long time

every spark you confided me   proved different from what I'd supposed!
such discursive truths spring from bald lies   though it takes a long time

every verse of my ghazal   each couplet I string   pierces veils
love's the burden song bears in reprise   though it takes a long time

our hellos are unending!   I greet you again and again
we'll endure the assault of goodbyes   though it takes a long time

in his poetry   Raphael dabbles   provoking deep thoughts
shallow critics admit it's half nice   though it takes a long time


[this is not yet the final version]

sonnet: step-wise tale

Bravo Jeet!   where your sonnet hits
the mark of the form's particular
potential   it encourages
reply-in-kind   if vehicular's
all language   whither ventures
the car that tools on syllables?
mightn't heart's long indentures
be anon paid   like parables
via journey's step-wise tale
past dark pools but lightly?
till the final parting veil
(after many lives or nightly)
strikes the deft term   connotive
of felicity's   pure motive

===========

A reply-poem, to one by Jeet Thayil (circulated as a note on Facebook), namely:

      DEAR EDITOR,

      Two reasons I like writing sonnets—
      and why two, why not fourteen
      good reasons, the shape compact and clean
      on the page, why not, since we’re on it?
      Well, one, I like the way it leads
      you by the hand down the measured stair
      of the page, leaves you resting on air
      as on an armchair, while someone reads
      to you the words you want to own.
      Two, I want to say something about bliss.
      I like bliss. And if I had to narrow it down
      to a couplet, I’d narrow it down to this:
      You start with a line and follow it through,
      the sonnet writes the sonnet, not you.

ghazal: "my parquetry"

I'm seated at the chessboard   late in life
defeated at the chessboard   late in life

the braid of dark and light   that attracts my heart
is pleated at the chessboard   late in life

thought's leisurely loaf   with its pliant forms
I've kneaded at the chessboard   late in life

a dualist oboe   you can hear here
twin-reeded   at the chessboard   late in life

this duel   is a decorous deathtrap
who'll beat it at the chessboard   late in life?

there's no move without loss?   you're arrested
rap-sheeted   at the chessboard   late in life

years pass   I still ponder   those fatal moves
slow-speeded   at the chessboard   late in life

each time I sit   our parley   reappears
I meet it at the chessboard   late in life

I'm game to play!   ready to engage you
repeat it at the chessboard   late in life

your gaze moves   from square to square within me
you've freed it   at the chessboard   late in life

inept to block your checkmate!   my vanquish
proceeded at the chessboard   late in life

this parquet   contains a tale of danger
you'll read it at the chessboard   late in life

immediate protection   not small talk
I've needed at the chessboard   late in life

after summer's harsh days   by quiet rains
beleaguered   at the chessboard   late in life

the impetus for love   seeks a clear path
impeded at the chessboard   late in life

after untold deaths   some perfect a way
to be good at the chessboard   late in life

the first move   is the dawn   of amazement
rose-cheeked   at the chessboard   late in life

the meaning of alap   is opening
slow-greeted   at the chessboard   late in life

unplugged   the phrase is bent to coolest blue
unheated   at the chessboard   late in life

was fate's   deceptive   ambiguity
well treated at the chessboard   late in life?

motives abstract   grow step-wise   specific
concreted at the chessboard   late in life

why prate of paradise?   when such a hope
out-petered at the chessboard   late in life

pastel dreams   at the stage of latency
deleted at the chessboard   late in life

the boys in the band   brag of Broadway nights
backstreeted at the chessboard   late in life

a glance that would launch ships   she once cast you?
I'm fleeted at the chessboard   late in life

what I know of you is wind   little more
half-heeded at the chessboard   late in life

I've listened for your note   soft and distant
I've waited at the chessboard   late in life

in a Manhattan minute   I'd meet you
heart-beated at the chessboard   late in life

come haunt me   belovèd   I'm willingly
afreeted at the chessboard   late in life

where remain   modest moves   to contemplate?
effeted at the chessboard   late in life

sun leads   the cloudscape follows   such a dance
Monet did   at the chessboard   late in life

a crude pawn   with the right move   proves dextrous
concede it at the chessboard   late in life

a suave queen   at the wrong place   gets worsted
unseated at the chessboard   late in life

the ocean first approached   than stepped aside
receded at the chessboard   late in life

come tangle again   O toreador!
I'm bleeding at the chessboard   late in life

where sly strategy pays off   you'll spot me
conceited at the chessboard   late in life

the case is admittedly   difficult
I plead it at the chessboard   late in life

we seek your intervention   who wound us
we need it at the chessboard   late in life

he failed to grasp   with sure clarity
what she did at the chessboard   late in life

the cake can be consumed   or else displayed?
I eat at the chessboard   late in life

no true thing can be said   in poetry?
forget it   at the chessboard   late in life

who cultivate   an agonized patience
can breed it at the chessboard   late in life

your garden is half thorns   and half roses
we weed it at the chessboard   late in life

your thorn-prick   inevitably piercing
succeeded   at the chessboard   late in life

with such a window view   you're my opera
box-seated at the chessboard   late in life

Lord Krishna   amid the field   sings wisdom
God geeted   at the chessboard   late in life

today you sport beret   anon fedora
Magritted at the chessboard   late in life

young summer!   can you grasp how it snowed
and sleeted   at the chessboard   late in life?

par for the course   infants   we've forgotten
what we did at the chessboard   late in life

love is cruel   chant crooners   were they all
maltreated at the chessboard   late in life?

romantics   favor my way   Sinatra
competed at the chessboard   late in life

bitter news   dusk mellows   dulcet cellos
Bach suited   at the chessboard   late in life

go watch TV   I'll study this mirror
glass teated at the chessboard   late in life

lavish meal or plain fare?   all (pardon me)
excreted at the chessboard   late in life

final justice?   it's just this   Nirvana
out-meted at the chessboard   late in life

who reach nonexistence   return to you
thus jeeted at the chessboard   late in life

we were lost in the throng   till stepping in
elited at the chessboard   late in life

sharp gains   sudden losses   vague learning's
discreted at the chessboard   late in life

paths are made   by walking   quoth Chuang Tzŭ
ways streeted at the chessboard   late in life

our will was in motion   but not steering
back-seated at the chessboard   late in life

singing Baba Little Blacksheep   are we?
I've bleated at the chessboard   late in life

in memory's microwave   everything's
reheated at the chessboard   late in life

is whiskey your liquor?   my parquetry
I've neated   at the chessboard   late in life

one square   cool scholars never noted   ex-
egited   at the chessboard   late in life

always honey with medicine admixed   bit-
tersweeted at the chessboard   late in life

at the center of thought   heart's gratitude
drum-beated at the chessboard   late in life

play done   you remain all-pervasive   A-
to-Z hid at the chessboard   late in life

iron rules   unbending   but have poets
half-cheated at the chessboard   late in life?

Zarathustra's handiwork?   a rumor
repeated at the chessboard   late in life

every feint   in time's tragic conversation
lies naked at the chessboard   late in life

ascend cliffs   while sitting in an armchair
soul cleated   at the chessboard   late in life

the road to Shu   is difficult to scale
as Li did   at the chessboard   late in life

lose ten thousand rounds   to gain ambergris!
secreted at the chessboard   late in life

who resign to you   become   to the wind
three-sheeted   at the chessboard   late in life

didn't Shams   win again?   yet was Rumi
completed at the chessboard   late in life

fresh curls of green appear   out of dark loam
when seeded at the chessboard   late in life

what do I tender?   this   guttering wick
Kali lit   at the chessboard   late in life

what's hidden in the heart   grows manifest
you bleed it   at the chessboard   late in life

where have Raphael's midnights   this season
retreated at the chessboard   late in life?



========================

Every line has 10 syllables.
a ghazal in 79 couplets (so far)

August 18: . . . but editing is still in progress


couplets on hold:

I'm one spinning cog   in your universe
a widget at the chessboard   late in life

away   the clamor   of the marketplace
all fleeted at the chessboard   late in life [?]


survival   as fruit of agile foresight
acceded at the chessboard   late at night
paraded

was foresight born   merely for survival?
created at the chessboard   late at night

what has been   your basic meditation?
you'll see it   at the chessboard   late in life

the predator of dawn   proved prey at dusk
who pleaded at the chessboard   late in life

though prey afore   as predators anon
exceeded at the chessboard   late in life

the tryst were half-announced   half-forgotten
belated   at the chessboard   late in life

to lose is no mean thing!   dying deepens
elated at the chessboard   late in life

lost happiness   yet rill-like runs   anti-
cipated at the chessboard   late in life

[alternate form of verse 8]:

I'm game to play!   ready to oppose you
repeat it at the chessboard   late in life


notes

alap: I'm not clear on the root meaning of alap in Sanskrit. The term signifies a process of improvisation that opens up the musical mode -- an essential approach in Indian classical music.

afreeted: haunted (possibly an English neologism, although I vaguely recall having seen the word used thusly somewhere -- if so, probably amid Victorian-era translations from Persian poetry); from afreet (Arabic): a powerful or frightening jinni.

geeted: besung. This would be an English-verb neologism, based on the Sanskrit noun gita [or geeta] (song), as in the Bhagavad Gita (Song of the Lord), in Hinduism the quintessential book of spiritual wisdom in form of a lengthy philosophical dialogue described as having occurred beside the Kurukshetra battlefield, during a lull (and the hero's Arjuna's befuddled indecision) prior to the conflagration of action.

suited: to be made into a suite. Again (but obviously), a verb neologism; here, intended to suggest Johan Sebastian Bach's notable Cello Suites.

glass teated: as in Harlan Elison's The Glass Teat (1970)

jeeted: rendered victorious; as English verb, this would be a neologism (based on the Hindi/Urdu noun jeet = victory)

elited : to be made into an elite

Chuang Tzŭ: a.k.a. (or, now more commonly spelled) Zhuangzi, the great Daoist writer. Burton Watson thusly translates the classic utterance here in question:
      A road is made by people walking on it;
      things are so because they are called so.
Another rendering of the same reads:
      A way is made by walking it
      A thing is so by calling it

parquetry: the geometrical mosaic of patterned square wood pieces, as found on a chessboard, often used decoratively; see: parquetry

exegited: explained (as with a sacred, ancient text) in much literary detail, drawing out its full, inherent meaning; from exegesis

Zarathustra's handiwork!: the ancient Persian spiritual figure Zarathustra (Zoroaster), if not the inventor of the game of chess, was apparently at least an interpreter of its symbolism. (It is said that Persians attributed the game to India.) Poetically, one might esteem Zarathustra the game's inventor. Like his teachings, the sport of chess deals in sharp, dualistic distinctions, pitting light against dark.

the road to Shu: Tang Dynasty Chinese poet Li Bai (or Li Po) wrote an evocative ballad with the refrain The road to Shu is hard!

didn't Shams win again? -- alluding to the anecdote of Jelaluddin Rumi's chess-playing sessions with his spiritual mentor Shams-i-Tabriz (a tale recalled, for instance, in poet Francis Brabazon's magnum opus, Stay With God (1958)). The story goes, Rumi exclaimed (when losing), "I've lost yet again!" "No, this time," replied his master, "you've won," an utterance which (one might say) sparked or marked the sudden (and thereafter, continuous) experience of God-realization in Rumi.

ghazal

With the fresh day   old stories start anew
in a hushed way   old stories start anew

the chessboard but allows   so many moves
in the meshed play   old stories start anew

your bishop for my knight?   it's bearable
in the ashtray   old stories start anew

with each dawn   time's lost?   opportunities
rarely rush   hey   old stories start anew

I've survived   deathly skirmishes   barely
now your touche   old stories start anew

I've yet to get the hang of things   maybe
it's a wash day?   old stories start anew

with such modest aims   Rapahel dithers?
in the crushed fray   old stories start anew

ghazal: "the facade of freedom"

What brought us   to this condition   is hard to say
who frames   each fated decision   is hard to say

the facade of freedom   waves   its alluring cape
dream-like?   or like a collision?   it's hard to say

do the atoms dance?   or weep?   lend me a candle!
would more light   change our position?   it's hard to say

in classical forms   every move   is measured
nameless!   is that for concision?   it's hard to say

as the doctor pronounced   his grim   diagnosis
what tipped the scale toward remission?   it's hard to say

none explain   who keeps dispatching antique postcards
if postmen have a suspicion   it's hard to say

as we bow   to kiss your feet   in infinite thought
what makes love   etch its incision?   it's hard to say

it all seemed a game!   even now   when we're losing
can pure love   realize its mission?   it's hard to say

on the chessboard   of my existence   only you
can foresee all   such an ocean   is hard to say

we don't vanish   though we long for   nonexistence
what's the point   of the mortician?   it's hard to say

every day brings   fresh pictures   of the beloved
can a postcard   serve for admission?   it's hard to say

admit that you love me!   although you seem cruel
can I extract   recognition?   it's hard to say

what we find   begs explanation   but what story
lends the world   perfect definition?   it's hard to say

the looking-glass of my mind   resolves to see you
can sheer hope   aim with precision?   it's hard to say

revolution of the globe   is it transient
or sans end?   how this division?   it's hard to say

what if Raphael   should become   a real poet?
can blind men   open bright vision?   it's hard to say