ROSE: a ghazal

ROSE: a ghazal


What a beauty are thou, O Rose!
Truly to you I bow, O Rose.

The one on which you chose to swing,
How lucky is that bough, O Rose!

I wonder that amongst the thorns
You continue somehow, O Rose!

Your tender, fragrant company,
To thorns, why you allow O Rose!

You may fade tomorrow but are
King of the garden now, O Rose!

I can’t pluck a smiling beauty,
Never, Khalish, I vow, O Rose.


*. Written in 8-8 format. Khalish, the nom-de –plume, is an Urdu word meaning pain or ache.
* Initially written as entry ID # 384929 (now deleted) in MY GHAZALS, "MY GHAZALS IN ENGLISH" 
* For a note on ghazal, please see: "WHAT IS A GHAZAL AND HOW TO WRITE IT?" 


M C Gupta
8 November 2005