April 5, 2017 /

After “Meera”—Kishori Amonkar sings

The rain has come
My beloved has come
Darkly they come
Both beautiful darkly
they come

from the four directions
darkly
directionless
to my home

The forest puts out a flame
The peacock, a feather
The deer darts through darkly
The koel!                     Cries out her heart

And then the rain
Beautiful                      incomparable dark
the eyes of my beloved
The cloud, the rain pouring

darkly, darkly in my home
Who sees him is his
Who am I? Darkly I’m pouring too
for him! Lightly, he receives!

————–

In My Sunset Marriage
from The Heart in Hiding (1996)

 

Raiot

Raiot

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CategoriesCulture English Words

TagsIndian Classical Music Kishori Amonkar Poetry

Hoshang Merchant Written by:

Hoshang Merchant (b. 1947) has authored twenty-nine books of poetry, literary commentary, translations, memoirs, and anthologies including Yaraana: Gay Writing from India (1999) and most recently Secret Writings of Hoshang Merchant (2016). In the mid-1980s, Hoshang made Hyderabad home and taught generations of students at the English Department of University of Hyderabad till he retired in 2012. My Sunset Marriage represents the life of Hoshang Merchant told through the best poetry he has written over forty years.

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