Ghazals: Translations of Ghalib
Beauty and Truth Are Kin
The King has opened his doors-–and purse–-to poetry.
Lord, do not close again the doors of this treasury.
When night draws her curtain, a thousand stars descend:
Dignified like priests who–-for us–-make amends.
If I am crazed by love, shall I be duped by friends?
I know their plotting starts before their greeting ends.
Her words are Greek to me, her mind is a mystery.
She has opened up to me: and that’s enough for me.
I have immortal longings–-since beauty and truth are kin.
The angels gather at my death to wash away my sins.
Although I cannot see her face–-she mesmerizes me.
Filtering through the veil, her beauty staggers me.
‘Camp at my door’, she said, but then–-from pity or fear-–
She threw me out speedily, as I unpacked my gear.
The night of grief is dark as evil spirits descend.
The stars look the other way until their caucus ends.
Ghalib, why should I worry? A Prince looks after me,
One who entered Heaven’s dome without ceremony.
View all here.
Published in
Salt River Review and Kimera
Holding the Center | January 11, 2003
I taped it to the black board
a map of the world
Rand McNally
printed in USA.
It split Asia
right down the middle:
the truncated moieties
exiled to the right
and left edges
of this fixed habitat.
(Read full)
Published in
CounterPunch
Bastard | February 10, 2003
About Saddam they are never wrong,
The Oil Meisters. He is a bastard,
Given how he gassed his own people
While they were eating, opening a window
(Read full)
Published in
CounterPunch
Cook Inside | December 07, 2002
"Are we to renounce our gods
for the sake of a mad poet?"
Quran (37: 36)
The sun and moon are signs of God.
Unseal and find the book inside.
(Read full)
Published in
CounterPunch
The Civilizing Mission | October 26, 2002
From get go, this system was built
On carnage. Once capital connected
With power, there was no turning
Back. The galleons set sail, guns
Blazing at the ports, disembarking
Death on the shores of America,
(Read full)
Published in
CounterPunch
I Will Fight Your Enemies | October 12, 2002
America, I will fight your enemies
I will fight your wars without end
Against terrorists, anarchists, arsonists
Against rebels, radicals, revolutionaries
Against protesters, picketers, marchers
Against Levelers, Diggers, Quakers
Against spooks, spirits, specters
Against the sick who won't die
Against the poor who dare cry
Against Ur, Nineveh and Babylon
Against the daughters and sons of Man
(Read full)
Published in
CounterPunch
CNN Reporting | August 31, 2002
The latest reports from Baghdad
are ominous. Children by the busloads
are arriving every day at camps
just outside the city. They are coming>
(Read full)
Published in
CounterPunch
Death by Sanctions | August 10, 2002
Sleep my child, do not wake now.
The portents in the sky foretell
A searing death for you.
(Read full)
Published in
CounterPunch
American Presidents | July 27, 2002
I have stared at them over meals,
And in between, for three months now:
A full gallery of American presidents
Assembled--on a paper place mat.
(Read full)
Published in
CounterPunch
