Two Ghazals

- Steffen Horstmann

Steffen Horstmann has written more than two hundred ghazals in English, and his poems and book reviews have appeared in publications throughout the world, including Baltimore Review, Free State Review, Istanbul Literary Review, Louisiana Literature, Texas Poetry Journal and Tiferet. Horstmann has published two books of ghazals, Jalsaghar (2016) and Ujjain (2017).

Steffen Horstmann

In the Sky

Rain sparkles in distant storms that quake in the sky,
As condors descend through a jet's wake in the sky.

Sprigs of lightning sizzle in a glistening cloud
That shimmers like a translucent lake in the sky.

The Four Zoas glimmered in gold light, reciting
In whispering echoes lines by Blake in the sky.

Thunder reverberates, street puddles shake as rain
Roils in clouds a dragon's claws rake in the sky.

Roaring fires sprout on mountains impaled by spears
Of lightning from thunderheads that shake in the sky.

Light ripples in scorching winds that echo screeches
Of winged-djinns Dushara will forsake in the sky.

[Rainbows massed on iridescent seas then]

Rainbows massed on iridescent seas then.
Daphne spoke in wind drifting through trees then.

The spectres of Kunda priests are sheltered
In papaya groves that swarmed with bees then.

Seagulls hectored the phantoms of sailors
That roamed along the abandoned quays then.

Twilight ignited seas to burning glass
As bats streamed from darkness in the lees then.

Nomads appeared in a sand-hazed light, where
Mirages expelled a rain-laced breeze then.

Mountains shook as Odin's breath blasted down
In snow funnels from the frozen screes then.

3 comments :

  1. Figurative devices are to be found across the poem - an essential ingredient that makes a poem.Superb!
    Congrats, Steffen Horstmann!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hello Sangeeta, I apologize for taking this long to reply to your kind words. Thank you so much!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hello Sangeeta, I apologize for taking so long to reply to your kind words. Thank you so much!

    Steffen

    ReplyDelete

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