CALL OF THE HEART--a ghazal

CALL OF THE HEART


Her memory calls today.
My heart, for her, tolls today.

Every tender thought of her,
Verily enthralls today.

Her images haunt me as
I look at the walls today.

In the empty house her voice
Echoes in the halls today.

The same scent pervades the air,
Her memory mauls today.

As I dreamt of her I felt,
As if manna falls today.

Khalish, I can’t forget her.
In my heart she crawls today.


* A ghazal consists of couplets in which the opening line and the even lines end with a refrain, which is preceded by a rhyming word. For a detailed note on ghazal, please see "WHAT IS A GHAZAL AND HOW TO WRITE IT?" . A ghazal often carries the poet's signature in the last couplet. My pen name, Khalish, is an Urdu word that means pain or ache.

* Written in 7 syllables per line format


M C Gupta ‘Khalish’
28 June 2003