Dissolving the Sun

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.