Aneesh Sathe


Dissolving the Sun

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Desert guitars breathe dusk’s low tone, dissolving the sun;  
Footsteps of light retreat alone, dissolving the sun.  
  
Victories fade like prayers on wind-worn stone, dissolving the sun;  
Sorrows sleep deep in caverns unknown, dissolving the sun.  
  
Love gilds the cactus—an amber throne, dissolving the sun;  
Hatred grinds silence to marrow and bone, dissolving the sun.  
  
Hope drifts north with oud smoke blown, dissolving the sun;  
Despair sits south, unmoved and prone, dissolving the sun.  
  
Time loosens strings on an old dial-tone, dissolving the sun;  
Night tunes the dust to a heart on loan, dissolving the sun.  
  
G, your whisper returns full-grown—melded as one, dissolving the sun;  
All journeys end where they’d begun, forever dissolving the sun.

The above is (approximately) in the ghazal form. I’ve been reading history of the al-Andalus, listening to Darrymple’s podcast, and reflecting it all back to India’s recent history while reading Shadows at Noon.