POETRY | GHAZAL
You Are My Love
A ghazal
I’m welcoming and requesting feedback for this poem. It’s my first-ever attempt at a ghazal, a beautiful and complex Middle Eastern form. As far as I know, it requires:
- A bahr, a strict metre that becomes, in English, a set number of syllables in a line — ten, in my case.
- At least five couplets that work, in each pair, as their own individual poem. The final couplet may include a pen name.
- A radif , which is a repeated word or phrase, resulting in this rhyme scheme: AA, bA, cA, dA, eA…
I first encountered the ghazal about ten years ago. I thought it was time to try and write one myself because — apart from enjoying the ‘puzzle’ of writing specific, closed forms — I’d like to craft a villanelle one day… maybe even (whisper it) a sestina.
So… what do you think of this ghazal, below? Have I missed anything? Feel free to let me know!
You Are My Love
I had lost all heart, but you are my love. I know, now I see you. You are my love.
Throughout the many weeks we meet, I let myself imagine that you are my love.
Do you feel it? As I ask you, so you ask me. You are my love. You are my love.
We can waltz in the waking of our world, where I — I! — am yours, and you are my love.
Others are troubled, but what dark can they do? For you are my love. You are my love.
You laugh, and smile, and freely speak to me. I see you realise that you are my love.
Will you stay mine? Will you stay true? As you ask me, so I ask you. You are my love.
I am yours. There shall be no more waiting — call me love. For you, O you, are my love.
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Copyright © E.A. Colquitt 2023
British writer