Ghazal of Glance
First, it was a glance, then sleeplessness
See what love did to Rumi with a glance,
turning away from the mirror, you glimpsed
was it a trance, or what Khusrau said, a glance
you went away without sending me a farewell
stoned, staring, a dialogue, a dance, a glance
A friend wrote from the Houston Americans
writing ghazals in English, Ah! a concocted stance,
lilt, cadence, and the beloved’s eyes blinking
coy, covering, and yet see that miracle of glance,
Persian and Urdu are alien to Northern palates
In English, you squint and then call it a glance,
In the empty corridors, language is desperate
Your absence is now limited to a mere glance
tear away shyness, rip apart the veil, reveal,
Rizwan is looking askance; return that glance.
by Rizwan Akhtar
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