This is a re-post of a ghazal that I wrote a couple of years ago. I am sharing with DVerse for this month’s poetry form.
“Call Me Hagar”
I decided to write another ghazal today. I normally wouldn’t post twice in one day but was very happy with how this turned out! It was inspired by Agha Shahid Ali’s poem “Tonight”. I am not feeling this way currently but am very familiar with the struggles described in the following poem.
I feel alone, connection’s far tonight,
I see no smiling star tonight.
Even the moon has forgotten its light.
Shrouded, it makes the sky dark as tar tonight.
My mind sees a battlefield near:
What emotions will I need to spar tonight?
Depression, restlessness, fear, anxiety?
What demons come to wound and scar tonight?
Yet hope alone, even now, can fight
The darkness; complete despair I’ll bar tonight.
And in the midst of these anxieties God sees:
I sob in God’s arms. Call me Hagar tonight.