Ghazal

[Bob Crowley]

For what it's worth this is a ghazal I wrote some time ago when I had nothing better to do. According to "Poetry for Dummies" (that's me!), a Ghazal has the following attributes -

The Ghazal (pronounce it “guzzle” with a slight gargle on the g) is one of the few Arabic verse forms to have a big impact on the West. It came into European poetry through 19th century German poets and got into English-language poetry in the late 1960's.

The rules are -
1. Every line must have the same number of syllables.
2. The Ghazal is a series of couplets (at least five), but there's no upper limit.
3. The first couplet rhymes. For example -

October: The horizon, grey and wide,
Is staggering – you're dancing in the tide.

4. The closing words of the second half of the second line are repeated in the second line of the succeeding couplet. This is called the radif.
5. The remaining couplets don't have to rhyme, and they can shift around in subject and tone.
6. The makhta, or the poet's signature (first name, last name, or both) appears somewhere in the last couplet.

CURTAINS BLOW

Clouds wafting across the sky, wind's lament,
Trees bend and wave, leaves drop, the curtains blow.

The writer frowns, types letters slow, so slow,
He thinks and thinks, window slides, curtains blow.

Time to crash on the bed, wife's sleepy glow,
Dog's on the floor, shoe drops off, curtains blow.

Sun moves west, heat burns the bed, sunbeams flow,
Time to get up, boil the jug, curtains blow.

Sun sets, shadows fall, leaves swirl, breezes show,
Night comes, lights on, Bob still writes, curtains blow.