Our lexicon could not contain the word

It cannot be broken, bought, struck in coin or plastic card,
quantified, computerised, accounted for, defined or proven

The edges need no milling for a word that is not there can be only perfect.

Unsaid, it sinews deep into the earth and binds

in silence.

Our borrowed gods and prophets
though weighed with stone and words, still want,
and, as birds that home and salmon leaping to their source hold true,
return

It lives
In the quivering of sticks

In the rock on which we choose to build
and had been chosen more than once before

In the yearning to be silent on Roughtor

In the sudden sunlit lifting of the spirit
we know does not exist

It breathes - hiraeth, hiraeth, hiraeth


In North Wales, in the 1970s, a farmer and poet ( a not uncommon mix), bemoaned to me the inadequacy of English, or perhaps of the English, as demonstrated by our lack of the word hiraeth, which he claimed could not be translated. He explained it is sadness after death, a yearning for ones land, a tie which cannot be broken no matter where you are. It stretches deep into the heart, through the generations, and reaches into the very land itself. It is all this and more.
The pronunciation of Hiraeth is "here-eye-th" with a rolled breathy "r" and a long breathy second syllable.

Do not dissect my dislocations or deconstruct my work
In academic circles, there is no logic in the rain
Embracing singing fish with legs cannot stop
A train of thought on looping lines. I could explain

In academic circles, there is no logic in the rain
But bowler hats and red bow ties do not require
A train of thought on looping lines. I could explain
The oddities of ordinary life, the window I inspire

But bowler hats and red bow ties do not require
Analysis, nor floating rocks and castles in the air
The oddities of ordinary life, the windows I inspire
Open, close and slide aside to show absurdity laid bare.

Analysis, nor floating rocks and castles in the air
Make shuttered lenses see the madness in the tracks
Open, close and slide aside to show absurdity laid bare.
Punch and Punchinetta playing kismet in Iraq

Make shuttered lenses see the madness in the tracks
Embracing singing fish with legs cannot stop
Punch and Punchinetta playing kismet in Iraq
Do not dissect my dislocations or deconstruct my work

rzan2006

The poetry form is a pantoum - which repeats lines in a set pattern.

Kismet Googled

Kismet is a Turkish and Arabic word for fate, expressing the attitude that human effort cannot change the predestined course of events.'
Kismet is the invincible necessity to which even the gods must accede,
Kismet is the will of Allah
Kismet is a Finnish chocolate bar
Kismet is an network detector, sniffer, and intrusion detection system for 802.11 wireless LANs

I am the bourtree arboured with eldren,
hallowing thresholds, blessing the night
Yan tan tethera pethera pimp

I am the hagthorn bounding the church haw,
murmuring of Hymen, stinking of plague
Eetern feetern penny pump

I am the rune tree whispering at crossroads,
the red threaded stitch in the hem of your coat
Een deen bohnenblatt, unsere kuh sind alle satt

I am the touch, the tinsel, the maypole,
the rundle, the mistle, the fruit and seed
Une-dune-des catlo wuna wahna wes

I am the children chanting their nonsense,
I am the tally of sheep on the hill
Eeney meeney miney mo

I am the one when one was I only,
two was another and three, more, all
I am coincidence

Yan tan tethera, un dau trey,
one potato two potato, I, you and they


Yan tan tethera pethera pimp is one to five in an ancient celtic counting system. It still survives, and is still used, for counting knitting stitches and sheep - in rural Wales, Cumbria, Yorkshire and other isolated pockets in the British Isles - usually in hilly regions where the Celts took refuge from invaders. Un dau trey is Welsh. Eene deene is a German counting rhyme. Une-dune-des catlo is chanted by children in India and Africa (ending with "each peach pear and plum, tillatah twentyone"). There are other "coincidences" in old words, counting rhymes and the number words used around the world.
rzan 2006 polished 2007

The tablah speaks, we dance wahiduddin with you.
All else is silenced. We will be one with you.

The swirl of the breeze caught in fine coloured silk,
Bright wings to fly from where legends began with you.

Our feet will follow in the steps of our mothers
On paths carved in sand, rock and earth, we run with you.

Fish rise from their dark pools to kiss the air hopeless,
With silent applause, rippling fins in zen with you.

Stones turn to wise pearls and rough words to rubiyat
Alchemists weep, shamed by comparison with you.

A flock of birds whisper quatrains of paradise
Weave stems in bowers that flower again with you.

Enchanted the sea hears as waves cease their sweeping
Oud, mizmar and whale sound in unison with you.

Weaving dense layered patterns in intricate circles
The silver of warp and gold weft were spun with you..

Darkness is sequinned with the whirlwinds of fireflies
Ghost moths in their death dance will touch the sun with you.

The tarantella clasps you in deadly embrace
Till the moon scythes free the dance is not done with you.

And I, rzan, pause for a heartbeat still earthbound
To dream ghazal that will honour the one with you.

The Persian or Urdu ghazal was typically addressed to women and spoke of love or spiritual matters.. It follows a strict syllable count (17 in this case) , refrain (with you) and rhyming scheme (one, began, zen, done etc), and the signature of the poet in the last verse is traditional. Each verse is a stand alone unit. A ghazal should be a string of pearls rather than a unified poem. It can be spoken or chanted with music. The form is often used in Bollywood songs. American or "bastard" ghazals are much more free.

rzan 2006