Do you count yourself among those
Of love while your tortured heart knows
Your deceit that over a sun
You a withering matchstick chose?
Courtiers
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Rafael
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Kaosar (Raatkiranii)
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Abdur Rahman
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tielansari
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danielabdalhayymoore
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Seth
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Dalal Jebril
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June 6, 2008 at 3:34 pm
Rafael
Annotation: The Rubai (pl. Rubaiyat) form is one of my favourite to use, particularly when engaged in wanting to transmit a short thought or maxim. I think each individual quatrain as a drop, and one might say that a collection of rubaiyat functions as rainfall: a deluge of interspersed droplets united in their common origin and destination. I also find the form more versatile than haiku in offering more liberty in terms of constructing the subject, form, and rhyme pattern within what is still a small space.
Lately I have been attracted to using the form not simply as a vehicle of contemplation, but also as reflecting a more lyrical or personal type of expression. This particular example I consider part of the many lessons in repentance and admonishment that are necessary on the spiritual path; however it is not simply rebuking spiritual insincerity and the perils of falling into slothful distractions, but it is also a reminder about how brief and ephemeral this “withering matchstick” of life is. Wasalam.
June 7, 2008 at 9:08 pm
Abdur Rahman
Salaams Rafael,
Ma sha Allah! I know what you mean about a withering matchstick!
For myself, I have always found rhyme a very difficult thing to do well. Whenever I have tried, it always sounds like a naf pop song!
June 8, 2008 at 12:34 pm
Irving
Wonderful, and alas, all too true; holding a candle while looking for the sun, withering matchsticks we
Ya Haqq!
June 10, 2008 at 4:15 pm
Raatkiranii (K.F.S)
As everyone seems to agree, the part about the sun and the withering matchstick is simply priceless. I suppose this is because of all the truth in those few small words.
This is a wonderful piece.