“Where are you now? Who lies beneath your spell tonight?
Whom else from rapture’s road will you expel tonight.”
-
Tonight by Agha Shahid Ali
Two kohl eyes met in my Ittar shop tonight.
And how it wounded my heart, I shall tell tonight.
Amber, Musk, Rose, Lavender. The fragrance,
their conversation created, you should smell tonight.
My head aches with the clink of ittar bottles, but
their fingertips—brushing, it was a spell tonight.
I remember chandbalis stroking your neck-line.
You now have a shauhar, all
madmen yell tonight.
Your inconstancy still flickers in my eyes.
Seeing you pass by Jahan Numa, they swell tonight.
Wine and the morning after, a pinch of lime.
All offerings, shall drown in a well tonight.
Loved the way how aromatic imagery is created and how sublimely it builds up to the fourth couplet which encapsulates the sense of jealousy.
ReplyDeleteI really like how you created a scene that jumps right out of the page and creates itself as a very delicate, intricate existence, quite like a vial of perfume or desires.
ReplyDelete"rapture's road", not "rupture" :) and it's "Whom"
ReplyDelete"Whom else from rapture’s road will you expel tonight?"