Ghazal of Death | 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 like the sea ~ my death inside me.
 
It serves as tormentor or companion
With equal facility, my death inside me.
 
Sometimes I’m immersed in an absence
Composed wholly of my death inside me.
 
It may be instilled with repose
Or roused in fury, my death inside me.
 
What new form will it one day  
Embody, my death inside me?
 
My own body’s prophet summoned
From within my body, my death inside me.

Indian Literature and poetry with Ghazals in English – a language of poetry.

Steffen Horstmann’s poems and book reviews have appeared in publications throughout the world, including Baltimore Review, Free State Review, Istanbul Literary Review, Louisiana Literature, Oyez Review, San Antonio Review, Texas Poetry Journal and Tiferet. He has published two books of ghazals, Jalsaghar (2016) and Ujjain (2017).

Steffen Horstmann, in his own words: “Agha Shahid Ali taught me the ghazal form while I was his student at the University of Arizona.”