Ghazal of peace

Sun rises, sun sets, with day between, in peace;

here is a world, at last, that rests, at peace

with its conjunction of stars, its winds, its rains
and all the aggregated weathers of it, a peace

where no human hand strikes petty blows
in vengeance, vendettas abandoned, left in peace

to find their reconciliation, where forgiveness
and forgetting ease themselves to rest; a peace,

in which the world no longer rages, its hollow anger
silenced by the deafening quiet of real and lasting peace.

© BH, 2025

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Having embarked on exploring the ghazal as a poetic form [see ‘Ghazal for the road’], I thought I might put it to use on a more universal theme. In this case, peace but linked to another contrasting poem ‘Ghazal of war’.

It felt particularly appropriate in these times when we deviate more and more from our essential humanity. Yet the old poets of the East (like Rumi, that old Sufi mystic!) and the new (Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan) celebrated it…

Brought into English by US poets in the 1990s, I first encountered the form in Rattle magazine. Here are my modest contributions. I don’t conform to the strictest model by any means, but put that down to my intrinsic voice. It’s the only one I have!