Ghazal: Tonight

I think I will let it all be tonight

Stop thinking and be free tonight

All creation is fleeting, a play of illusion

I too cease looking for eternity tonight

Straddling the eras I stand, Time incarnate

Past, present and future rise within me tonight

How petty my concerns, trivial all pursuit seem

When in you, God at play I see tonight

The many hurt I cause the people I love

Seeps into my heart to haunt me tonight

Whose divine voice is it that comes riding?

The breeze that caresses the tree tonight

What can I ever offer you, eternal stranger?

But these words that ring empty tonight

Words are all I have, my genesis, my end

And these words will set me free tonight

Why not cast the dark from your soul, Sahar

And lose yourself forever in the light tonight

Shantanu Ray Chaudhuri is a film buff, editor, publisher, film critic and writer. Read more about him here