Ghazal for My Angel

My love its true that I took you, delicate as a feather
for granted, complacent in those soft years together
 
But in these troubled days, when I don’t know where you are
I discover my need for you, when I could easier touch a star
 
There is no bounty in the palace that can replace you
No more joy in a glorious white cloud morning view
 
The wide alleys of the marketplace, though they be fair
are empty and barren to me, because I can’t find you there
 
Like a sea creature, discovering the existence of thirst
My skin is cracked as a dry riverbed, suffering the worst
 
I curse the foreign houses I imagine you passing through
The caress of a hundred other hands that touch you
 
In my desperation, I turned to drink and found only pain
That I suffered in silence, born of well deserved shame
 
For rather than washing my multitude of troubles away
The fruit of the vine cemented them, as if to forever stay
 
I have a thought to turn robber, ambushing wealthy caravans
For in my dreams you are carried to this city from distant lands
 
I do not long for the supple silks that adorn a dancing girl’s face
Only to be once more plied by your two ply twining embrace
 
I rail in the courtyards for aid at shuttered windows
My neighbors are each chafed by their own sorrows
 
I gather leaves off the street, fallen from the palms
They remind me of what I cannot have, these rough fronds