Ghazal: On Sleep

We fasten our yearning to a stone porch
And shun all objects of our discerning. To a stone porch.

The marble palace of his awakening
Grinds down to a halt, by daylight turning to a stone porch.

Cast off your old world moorings, immigrant.
Relinquish these hours to the raw morning. To a stone porch.

Heraldic foxes whimper at four gates.
Guards stiffen, then relax. They are mourning too. A stone porch.

Those with rooms in the Quarter - to the window!
See that wedding-cake melt without warning to a stone porch.

Ratnam sings by day extravagant dreams,
Histories of kings, by night returning to a stone porch.

— Sunil Iyengar