I have lost track of time with the wonders of spring back in Spain. Lots of time spent walking, talking, working the land, making cheese, yoga and Tai Chi. There has been little time for writing as I rush to get an irrigation system working before my return to family and wedding bells for my older daughter.
I was introduced to ghazals and the poet Ghalib from my sojourns in India and Pakistan. That was some years ago now and I remember the time when all the Pakistani newspapers on the front page honoured a well loved poet and throngs of people came out to mourn the loss of this important poet. A ghazal is to be heard, sung and responded to immediately by an audience. It is often about love, loss, longing for an earthly delight or the sacred.
Now I live in Andalucia, famed for its light and clear blue skies but also its history of many conquests and settlers: Roman, Visigoth, Islamic, Sephardic Jews, Christian and many others. All with songs and poetry of loving this land of light! And for many the sorrow of being forced to leave.
This is an attempt of writing a ghazal for the Dverse poetry form challenge. Notes on the Ghazal form traditional and contemporary can be found at Dverse.
Ghazal for Al Andaluz
Andalusian sky, land of light, with bright songs of deep blue.
On leaving I wonder how long will I long for my return to you?
Remains of roman towns remind us of our constant defeat by time.
Wild wolves that roamed far extinct but all we do is long for you.
Passion tempered by conquest built on stones from the past.
Sevilla, Granada, fortresses that fight for me to stay with you.
Night brown hues touch the flesh of delight. What will tear us apart?
Defend this land of light, for so long as I can be here with you.
Poems for paradise, gardens to die in, tall palms shade intense light.
Rare richness of water, fountains for life, we long to return to you.
Foliage to ferment in, fronds to fan breezes, scents to seduce,
Water to soothe the smooth skinned sadness of life without you.
Calls from the minaret fade in the falling of the soft glow of light.
Ojala, obrigada, al andaluz, may we not be long away from you.
What dreams, what failures slip without sense from our sight.
Beauty of blue, land of sharp light, we must not betray you.
Inshallah, with God’s gift we will return to your light.
Dark is the earth we till as we gaze right into the blue to see you.
The associations came to me on a bus travelling from Aracena, our town in the mountains, to Sevilla, city of beautiful gardens! These were then put into couplets and the first two lines chosen to repeat in some way. In the last couplet there is reference to my first name Georgina which has connections with the earth and farming, a tiller of the soil and my second name Jane, gift of God! And ‘right’ of course.
I always feel a sense of loss when leaving and wonder about when we will return, Inshallah, God Willing we keep healthy and young at heart and can ‘rage against the dying of the light’ so we can enjoy more time in our own wild woodland in Andalusia, land of light.
I am posting late but will do my best to read more ghazals on the Dverse Mr Linky links.
Thank you for this beautiful post
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Thanks for reading! Hope all well in your parts. Winter?
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Yes, pretty cold right now
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Absolutely gorgeous!
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Thanks Cindy, I do miss it when I leave.
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such a beautiful place
to live & be
inspired by 🙂
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Thank you, it is!
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So wonderful to be reading this as I sit…guess where!!!…classroom in the old Earl Marshal school..grey clouds..drizzle…deviants arriving any minute now !!! Booked Cropredy ..will be in fueld 8 with Treebeard band.. and Chloe xxx
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Oh dear, am in grey London with stress of planning application for our street! Great to know you can be in Field 8. Perhaps talk this evening re meeting up before you set off on festivals.
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It sounds idyllic!
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Yes, when you look at the sky!
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A beautiful post. I hope you get that irrigation system running in good time.
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Thanks, it’s being worked on now in my absence. It’s all about pressure!
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At 2.30 am? At first I thought this was the Ghazal:
I have lost track of time with the wonders of spring back in Spain.
Lots of time spent walking, talking, working the land, making cheese, yoga and Tai Chi.
There has been little time for writing as I rush to get an irrigation system working
Before my return to family and wedding bells for my older daughter.
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Beautiful words filled with beauty and love.
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Thanks Astrid, I do love the place!
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This has a wonderful sense of both place and longing. I especially like the final couplet. (K)
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Thanks, I thought the theme worked but not too sure about the form!
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This is lovely! You paint such a beautiful picture of the place and your longing to be there.
One day I’ll get down there. One of my sister’s is going to live there (Alcala) already half-moved. And it’s where our dog comes from too 🙂
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Oh your dog, how lovely. I may foster when back but too much time spent between places to keep one of my own, but yes, I would miss Andalucia if I had to return permanently to U.K.
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It must be hard living between two places. Divided loyalties.
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A pleasure in a way but not simple!
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My sister has a foot in both camps for the moment and I don’t know how she manages.
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i appreciated the lilt of a song in this Ghazal. I’m reminded of a book by Laurie Lee, As I Stepped Out One Morning, an autobiography of his wanderings in Spain.
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Thanks, I must look that up. I only know Laurie Lee for his childhood countryside memoirs and of course the descriptions.
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I love your poem. Your bit of history at the beginning made the poem much more interesting. I liked this line: “Passion tempered by conquest built on stones from the past.” You live in a beautiful part of the
world!
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Thanks and it is beautiful with a fascinating history.
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In every way poetic, The words so carefully chosen make a melody in every couplet. The imagery takes you to place, affect your heart, becomes part of the reader as he/she reads it. This is truly a work of art. Kudos! Exceptionally well done.
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Thanks, Gay because I wrote images first but then read over the form again and tried to keep to it. Always hard but I love the longing that’s often in ghazals. Love your inspiring prompt and glad I managed it as very busy when changing country! There’s a good variety on Mr linky too and these help.
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The ghazal is beautiful! I am sure I would not want to leave such a lovely place to return to wet, windy and cold England!
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Thanks Clare, but I do love England too. Something about the mix of blossoms and briars.
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Beautiful language, full of the passion which seems right for the ghazal.
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Yes, ghazals need something strongly felt!
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Dear Georgie, your blog post is a delightful event of illumination and love that I very much enjoyed, and hereby honour. As for the Ghazal: now I have read your first (or nth) draft, I can’t wait for the worked-up passionate version that I sense we all need you to present to that clear blue light 🙏 With love… Russell ☘️🐝
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Hi Russell, sorry I missed this. We have been busy and with no Internet in Marple. Still soaking up the blessed rain but the sun shone for the wedding day. Am trying to write a ghazal for the wet summer I have spent here in UK. Don’t think it will sizzle!
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Beautiful poem with a keen sense of longing. I greatly enjoyed reading it along with your personal testimony.
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Thanks, my husband thought the testimony was the poem!
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Beautiful words and pictures 🙂
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Thanks Becky, hope all good with you and yours and perhaps one day we will meet under those intense blue skies!
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Oh that would be marvellous 🙂
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Your love of the landscape shines through. And there is so much to love. 🙂 🙂 Hurry back!
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This is very nostalgic and you remind me of Christopher Marlowe.
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Thanks, but not sure about why Marlowe!
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Georgina, a beautiful post! It’s fascinating to learn about the ghazal form and yours is pure magic, a hymn almost and full of emotion. I love how you’ve intertwined references to your names in the last couplet. Wishing you many blissful years in your beloved Andalusia! 😀🌺
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Thank you, Annika. Missing it now but it’s 37 degrees there and rainy grey again here in north of UK. And no time to write much either! I think my creativity flows more in Spain and my political being just gets disturbed here!
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Georgina, I can identify with the creative spirit being disturbed in the U.K. … it was heavenly to leave it all behind when I went to Jersey! Here’s to your writing flowing once again -I’ve learnt to not force it! X
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I am full of wanderlust:)
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