ghazal: "the primary thing"

To cultivate sheer soul   is the primary thing
to love   as fate's dice roll   is the primary thing

each day   a different experience emerges
to contemplate the whole   is the primary thing

our efforts merely efforts (chalked off as normal)
to keep seeking the goal   is the primary thing

where the mine looks dark   it harbors hidden treasure
a diamond pressed from coal   is the primary thing

music painting and poetry   three currencies
we've means to pay time's toll   is the primary thing

it was lengthy   and pointless   till you smiled at me
the bottom line read droll   is the primary thing

success and failure miss the point   adventure
with gusto to extoll   is the primary thing

to India or China?   whither Raphael?
a pilgrim's begging bowl   is the primary thing

ghazal: "toward what I aspired"

Toward what I aspired half-blind   eluded me   yet   something occurred
what thing I desired to find   precluded me   yet   something occurred

the sense of the seeking was what   was finding me   this   and only this?
the form of the meaning   rarely   accrued in me   yet   something occurred

we hadn't come   for a funeral   we expected   lavish parties
the shirt I was wearing   denuded me   yet   something occurred

the contention   proved ubiquitous   romance   is always a gamble
the Capulets grew   Montagued in me   yet   something occurred

Raphael   was the site of a query   or a question mark   at least
the turn of the world   was unscrewed in me   yet   something occurred

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.