Wednesday, March 07, 2007

Trance Music?

If he tried a little, he would have heard:
leaves rustling in the breeze,
moths flickering around that sixty watt bulb

If his fingers were free, he'd have touched:
the coarseness of the stones, three hundred years old,
the deliberate designs in the columns

If his eyes were open, he'd have seen:
a decrepit old dargah, bathed in moonlight
qawwals, sitting on a shabby carpet

But he sat there, lost in a song
Ears hearing off the joy of finding the One
Fingers drumming the manic dance of a dervish
Eyes closed, yet watching beyond what the lids hid

For in the few notes, in that mystical essence which is music
He rose, transcending above the ruins, above the city
His ticket to heaven and back

Dargah = Shrine
Qawwal = singer of qawwali, a form of devotional music of the Sufis
Dervish = Sufis, some of whom lose themselves in the frenzy of devotion

8 comments:

Persona non gratis said...

It sounds like lyrical prose. I really like these lines
"He rose, transcending above the ruins, above the city
His ticket to heaven and back"

J said...

Wow, I can't decide which of the last lines I liked the most....for now it's this...

Eyes closed, yet watching beyond what the lids hid

30in2005 said...

re: previous post - how'd you get labels? and what's happened to your blogroll - I used to read some of the people of your blogroll (I'm too darn lazy to put them on mine) and now they are gone.

Pallavi said...

God and its strange ways of connecting to you. wonderful!

Parth said...

@Shreemoyee, jvc1, Pallavi: Thanks

@30in2005: You get labels when you switch to the new blogger. I think after the change, you can just go and add labels to all your posts. To make them visible on the page layout like I have on the left, you'll need to change your template (I think there's an option that will allow you to move elements on the page). When you do that, you have the option of displaying labels etc. Unfortunately, that also removes any customizations you may have had in your earlier template. So, you'll have to go and physically add that back. In my case, the blogroll was one such case. I need to go back and add that back. Been lazy about it so far :-)

Anonymous said...

Amazing - really envy the way you manage to put the time, setting and mood into verse. Like a video, only better :-).

btw, the labels are helpful.
Pearls from posts bygone,for once unforgotten.

Parth said...

@Niranjan: Thanks. I am glad you got a chance to revisit some of the earlier posts. Do you have a favored category?

Anonymous said...

Poetry's top on the list, followed by ghazals :-).