Heart is delicate - align slowly
Ruminations of love! Please! No more;
A sip of wine! You get fine slowly
I hide behind its scarlet curtain
Griefs traverse the glass of wine slowly
They stare at me; want my attention
Say, time is finite; assign slowly
Aggravate, Aggravate O desires!
I can’t stop you, so I whine slowly
These Sea gulls – bound for far horizons
To see earth & sky combine slowly
I’ve walked so long; to reach you – now
You have to turn a la mine slowly
Trudge along ‘Rohit’; for life is meant –
To fight, fight and then decline slowly
I have seen many fine ghazals being posted here and have posted some in the past myself. Because i am from a country where the use of ghazal is most widespread, i thought why not write a ghazal which is purest to the form and also add an explanatory statement.
Qaafiya
Marked in red is the rhyme of the poem, known in the traditional ghazal terminology as 'Qaafiya' (pronounced in english spelling as calfeeya (minus the l) ) or the rhyme. Qaafiya must be maintained throughout the ghazal in the rhyme scheme of a:a b:a c:a d:a e:a. In the above case, fine-wine-assign-whine-combine-mine-decline are the qaafiyas of the poem.
Radeef
Marked in blue is repititive line or refrain of the poem, known in the traditional ghazal terminology as 'Radeef'. Radeef is the most important constituent of the ghazal as it has to be repeated throughout the poem. The first two couplets of ghazal always end in a radeef. Post the first opening couplet, radeef has to be used in ebery alternate line so that it succeeds the kaafiya. The length of a radeef can be one syllable or it can even be nearly half of the length of the verse. However, given the limitations of poetic expression in english language (compared to Urdu or Persian), it should be common practise to limit it to one or two words. Here the Radeef is the word 'slowly'. In urdu poetry, mostly radeef is a verb because Indic languages end in a verb ('He is coming' if translated from the order of Indic language would be as 'He coming is'). This is not the case for english, therefore we have limit of using verbal radeefs. Radeef is the term around which the entire ghazal is strung.
Matla
The opening couplet is known as the 'Matla' of a ghazal. It sets the pitch or theme of the ghazal. Unlike a sonnet or any western form, each couplet of ghazal carries a different theme, topic or landscape but may have a common linkage or apostrophe. For eg- IN the above, I intend to address or target the negativities of life. When a common central theme is dispersed across the ghazal or if the ghazal speaks of only one theme like 'love', 'loss' or 'grief', it is called as a 'qataaband ghazal'. Normally though, it is a practise to have a seperate theme in each line of the poem.
Maqta
The terminating couplet of ghazal is called as maqta. It normally either dispels the theme of ghazal or nails it down. The last couplet is perhaps, the most important of the entire ghazal as it also contains the takhallus. The poet can even take a jab on the theme of ghazal or speak with himself. An example
Bekhudi besabab nahi ghalib
Kuch to hai jiski pardadaari hai
Translation - This selflessness is not without any virtue ghalib. Something is hidden that you are trying to veil.
Takhallus (from Arabic 'Khallas' meaning end)
Takhallus is the nome-de-plume of the poet. It has been a tradition across the perso-arabic-indic school of poetry to write the name of the poet at the end of the ghazal. However, to maintain the rhythm or meter or length of the poem, poets normally choose pen names which are not exceeding three syllable lengths.
Behr
Behr or meter or length of the line is most important aspect of Ghazal. It is normally based on the pattern of weight, so that a light syllable carries a 1 weight whereas heavy one carries 2. Like Greek iambic, the pattern should be uniform and the line total should be similar.
However, i have not used the form above, and limited myself to syllabic count of 9 per line, which is more of an indic rather than persian practise.
Much more can be written on the theme, the distribution of theme throughout the poem etc. although there are many good articles describing the same. That's it for now ...............Phew :)
