Literature from India and the world over! Indian Literature Magazine
The author Steffen Horstmann, in his own words: "Agha Shahid Ali taught me the ghazal form while I was his student at the University of Arizona. I have written more than two hundred ghazals in English, and my poems and book reviews have appeared in publications throughout the world, including: Baltimore Review, Free State Review, Istanbul Literary Review,Louisiana Literature, Oyez Review, Texas Poetry Journal, and Tiferet."
Bulbuls trill where voices of pilgrims echo
Through hills the zephyrs climb in Ujjain.
Temple bells chime in Ghalib’s dream of priests
Reciting prayers that rhyme in Ujjain.
Lotus-shaped clouds form as doves flock
In the branches of an old … [Read the rest...] “Ujjain | Steffen Horstmann”
I live wary of my death inside me.
Does Fate query my death inside me?
I bear always the weight of its presence,
Burdened to carry my death inside me.
It sleeps like grain in a husk or sometimes
Rages … [Read the rest...] “Ghazal of Death | Steffen Horstmann”
Migrating butterflies swarm over the ocean,
As iridescent clouds form over the ocean.
Slivers of lightning pulse in bands of rain
Where funnel clouds form over the ocean.
Azure light flows from wheeling monsoons
That dissolve & reform over the … [Read the rest...] “Over the Ocean | Steffen Horstmann”