Never written a 'ghazal' before? Try it. It's hard.

The featured poetic form in the “Poetic Asides” section of the October issue of Writers Digest was the “ghazal.”

Pronounced “guzzle,” this form of poetry is of Persian origin and consists of “five to 15 couplets (two-line stanzas) with a word or phrase refrain at the end of each couplet,” the magazine said.

Also, traditionally, each couplet must be a complete sentence (or several sentences) in itself. In addition, all the couplets, and each line of each couplet, must share the same meter.

Famous ghazals written by English-speaking writers include “The Night Abraham Called to the Stars” by Robert Bly, “The Mother Mourns” by Thomas Hardy and “The Hall” by Robert Pinsky.

Writers Digest provided a portion of an example by Tiel Aisha Ansari, called “Can these crumpled leaves…” Here are the first four couplets.

Can these crumpled leaves really hold a flower?
A fist clinched this tight would crush any flower.

A glimpse of sky through the roof of a bower
naked to the wind and unclothed with flowers.

Emerald enamel sheathes the walls of this tower,
this bud that imprisons the thought of a flower.

And the hopeful search, and the desperate scour
their hearts for a glimpse of a beckoning flower.

Now comes the part where I try my hand at writing a ghazal. First and foremost, I need to pick a word that will end each couplet. I’m just going to choose one at random. Let’s go with “mind.” I’ll also write my ghazal, so that each couplet contains 22 syllables, as does “Can these crumpled leaves…”

Was anyone sure that the scholar would mind?
When it began no one asked if he’d mind.

When the library fell, his hands they did bind.
Between those walls was where he fed his old mind.

He thought of the book clerk, all merry and kind.
Never again would he help shape a young mind.

And what of the Braille books for the crippled blind?
Did anyone ask if those feelers would mind?

The deal was sealed when the papers were signed.
Still no one was sure if the scholar would mind.

OK. Now that I’m on the tail end of my first ever ghazal, and I can assure you that it was much more difficult to write than I thought at first. It’s somewhat difficult to keep true to the same end word and rhyme scheme.

Don’t think so? Then I challenge you to write you own ghazal and post it below for us to read. I’m sure that you’ll be like me and will have a new appreciation for how difficult this poetic form is to write.