After Hafez [couplet]

The traveler on the way endures     incessant tribulations!
with love as your constant guide you quell a thousand complications

"Waiting for you" [ghazal]

How do you guys handle this waiting without going off the rails?
- Leah Johnston  [as posted to a Facebook discussion group]

Now we're going right off the rails    waiting for you
twirling twigs amid senseless gales    waiting for you

you are everywhere!  you are in everything!   why then
are we chasing our own damn tails    waiting for you?

when you grant a ruinous sip     of your ruby wine
life's insipid fare thenceforth pales     waiting for you

on our pilgrimage    who lies hidden in each stray stone
while we wander through hills & dales    waiting for you?

nothing to seek! save what's sequestered   deep the heart 
God dwells everywhere   yet our tale is   waiting for you

is your silence an open secret    waiting to stun?
we continue   when all else fails    waiting for you

when you hinted how Raphael    might attain your kiss
was there mention of  thorns & nails   waiting for you?
 

Paradox of Moth & Warbler (after Saadi)

O morning warbler!    you who love to sing!
forth from obscurity    yon moth might bring
love's meaning    singed amid the flame of loving
see how she burns    yet utters not a thing!

who speaks of such a burning    barely knows it!
who dives in fire is dead!    who'll then disclose it?

Hwy 5 heading south

Stopping for gas    while Richard Strauss is playing
three & a half hours yet    before LA
what is the music's    lyric flow displaying?
this is a thing our words    can barely say


(January 13, 5:09 pm)

Hari Hara (1/13/13)

May peace & joy         greet Harihar

who carried music            very far

within whose name are names conjoined

of Lord Vishnu         & Lord Shankar

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


For Harihar Rao (January 21, 1927 - January 13, 2013)