"a door" (ghazal)
An open door! but then the door looked closed!
it seemed before not open nor quite closed!
no door is seen unless a door has been opened
the opening store requires a door not closed
embracing her a door disclosed a shore!
to love her more I swore before it closed
don't close the door! the window also open!
the heart she tore became a door unclosed
I sleep on the floor I abide in my rustic squalor
a palace door each night grows more unclosed
the closing of doors itself is an opening of doors!
each season's door exposes yet more unclosed
the door of snow of drifting leaves of verdure
the summer door where golden ore is not closed
I spoke with a genuine doorman! quite marvelous!
his conviction wore the uniform for not closed
unless you test the door can you deem it a door?
the mere lore of "open" could be the lore that's closed
the depicted door represents the possible door
is it actually a door if it's never more than closed?
O authentic door! your vivid traits we laud!
a moving door's soft-creaking roars "not closed!"
the veils that hide the beloved appear impenetrable
look sharp for gore & blood if the war is not closed
when the hurricane came the city became her host
when the levees tore she found no door was closed
in water the door of water leads to water!
the hermit's door is at its core unclosed
love's conversation opens in every syllable
love's semaphore could become a door unclosed
I yearned for a tryst in the vernal park she sighed
"autumnal more describes the coer when closed"
we were really floored and swore we'd find a door!
what further story lies in store? disclose!
life's wolverine trial eats lakhs & crores for breakfast
scant chance to snore till the case galore is closed!
from world to world & life to life we flow!
nor end nor shore! from form to spore no close!
sometimes we drift along unfashionable streams
sometimes we score such fine decor! and clothes!
how we've passed our relentless days since Adam & Havva
the apple core & the shiny floor disclose
one day our enchantment gorws in exquisite arbors
one day it's a chore to suppress a snore till we close
a time of closing arrives when the store has gone dark
dawn's sky glows pink and look! no shore is closed
his majesty keeps a rule that applies to supplicants
only one who adores the king finds a door unclosed
Ardeo! you head your nose toward hard illusions!
your soft-heart chore? discern what door is not closed
(detail borrowed from Vermeer)
it seemed before not open nor quite closed!
no door is seen unless a door has been opened
the opening store requires a door not closed
embracing her a door disclosed a shore!
to love her more I swore before it closed
don't close the door! the window also open!
the heart she tore became a door unclosed
I sleep on the floor I abide in my rustic squalor
a palace door each night grows more unclosed
the closing of doors itself is an opening of doors!
each season's door exposes yet more unclosed
the door of snow of drifting leaves of verdure
the summer door where golden ore is not closed
I spoke with a genuine doorman! quite marvelous!
his conviction wore the uniform for not closed
unless you test the door can you deem it a door?
the mere lore of "open" could be the lore that's closed
the depicted door represents the possible door
is it actually a door if it's never more than closed?
O authentic door! your vivid traits we laud!
a moving door's soft-creaking roars "not closed!"
the veils that hide the beloved appear impenetrable
look sharp for gore & blood if the war is not closed
when the hurricane came the city became her host
when the levees tore she found no door was closed
in water the door of water leads to water!
the hermit's door is at its core unclosed
love's conversation opens in every syllable
love's semaphore could become a door unclosed
I yearned for a tryst in the vernal park she sighed
"autumnal more describes the coer when closed"
we were really floored and swore we'd find a door!
what further story lies in store? disclose!
life's wolverine trial eats lakhs & crores for breakfast
scant chance to snore till the case galore is closed!
from world to world & life to life we flow!
nor end nor shore! from form to spore no close!
sometimes we drift along unfashionable streams
sometimes we score such fine decor! and clothes!
how we've passed our relentless days since Adam & Havva
the apple core & the shiny floor disclose
one day our enchantment gorws in exquisite arbors
one day it's a chore to suppress a snore till we close
a time of closing arrives when the store has gone dark
dawn's sky glows pink and look! no shore is closed
his majesty keeps a rule that applies to supplicants
only one who adores the king finds a door unclosed
Ardeo! you head your nose toward hard illusions!
your soft-heart chore? discern what door is not closed
(detail borrowed from Vermeer)
posted by david raphael israel at 6:26 AM
6 Comments:
d.i.,
This has a fantastic rhythm!
I felt as if I was trapped inside a crazy revolving door!
happy to read this!
rainbows & roses for you--
I did miss the revolving door image in the poem -- really a significant omission. Maybe I'll add a couplet (lest I be faulted for unthoroughness).
cheers, d.i.
hmm -- here's now
a brief history of the first couplet of this ghazal. I wrote it, and even posted it intitially, in this form:
A door seemed open then a door looked closed
that door was open was it? or but closed?
That's fine -- except in the entire rest of the ghazal, I followed a slightly different pattern (with the rhyme) than what's seen there. Perhaps I can invoke the very-late night hour of composition (and my general exhaustion) as excuse.
Anyway, finally (late morning) seeing my error of prosody [I guess one would say], I tried this:
An open door! but then the door looked closed!
it seemed before (what was it?) open? closed!
Well that was closer, but no cigar. Finally, I pulled it fully into conformity with the rhyme structure of the rest of the poem. The result is as now seen in the blog entry poem -- 3 being the proverbial charm.
I've notes for a few poss. additional couplets, but no time right now to work that out. We'll see. (As of now, the posted poem has 18 couplets.)
Oh, I like it. What images! Rhythm and rhymes are simply great!
Never thought a mundane thing like door will conjure up such images!
Love the "unclosing door" motif - and the internal rhymes and rhythm. Wonderful ghazal.
So glad I was pointed toward your blog.
hris, hi.
Gautami--
in fact, perhaps it's the "simple" images that often go deepest, no?
This reminds me of a little series of short films I saw some years back. They were explorations of ideas from the contemporary Jungian writer, James Hillman. Each film explored just a single archetypal image: one was about stairways, I think one may have been about doorways -- maybe we saw 3 or 4 such films (they were originally shot for British television, perhaps BBC or Channel 4; but Hillman himself showed them to us, during a weekend-lnog workshop here in DC some yearsa ago). Certain basic images -- a boat, a door, a stairway, maybe also one can say a footstep, a tree, a stone, a river, a flute, a leaf -- aren't they part of the "deeper vocabulary" of the psyche? I rather think so. I'd not really thought about this relating to this ghazal, but your note brings up the thought.
Rachel--
delighted to have your visit; you're the veteran blogger, I've just lately caught the bug. Look forward to reading more from yours.
cheers, d.i.
note: Rachel and I both had an English ghazal contrib. in the anthology Ravishing Disunities (2000).
Rachel has been more actively getting work into print; I'm now anyway opting for blogo-publishing (as a species of publication adequate for me, for the present).
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