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Raymond Turco Feb 2018
The Führer smashes his fist down, sending millions into the void.
An S.S. man in the Lager directs his gaze into the void.

British boys lie entrenched, gambling: mortar rains on German lines.
They charge at dawn with bets and hopes, but each pays into the void.

Sailors smell petrol and hurl themselves to the murky waters.
Fire explodes battleships, and grey Zeros rise into the void.

The Angel of Marzabotto buries the dead, wiping his brow.
An officer lodges a bullet there; the Angel prays to the void.

Green GIs go romping through the jungle after Victor Charlie.
They come upon rice fields, and set My Lai ablaze, into the void.

George III holds tight to colonies that raise muskets and new flags.
The Ministry of All Talents leads him, crazed, into the void.

Nippon men flood Nanjing and throw a maiden to the ground.
They ****** their bayonets to send her, dazed, into the void.

Fascist youth march the Bedouins across the Libyan sands.
Captors fence nomads in; the Duce looks, unfazed, into the void.

A young captain and his Bedouins shoot Turks without pretense.
Lawrence, disillusioned, fades out unpraised, into the void.
An English-language ghazal (غزَل in Urdu). The form has ancient pre-Islamic origins in Arabia.
So you are lost in dreams so deep whole night
And I long to hear phone's beep whole night



At dawn, I realised, my awakening
Though my destiny remained asleep whole night



I know the remedy, I know the toxin..
What to lose, and what to keep whole night



She might have waited for me to take her back
This is what made me to weep whole night



Sharafat, night is to sleep, not to write
Don't let enemies to creep whole night
Poet's observation and suffering of whole night.
Ceyhun Mahi Aug 2017
I did sight a dreamy face at twilight,
Who showed me a distant grace at twilight.

At the boulevard, blues did fade away,
Roseate is every place at twilight.

The smell of engines, the scents of delights,
Sweet fragrances leave a trace at twilight.

Here and there people roam around lovely,
There are many kinds of ways at twilight.

So many glowing faces and one sun,
Asking, watching is my gaze at twilight.

With a warm and cozy way of glowing,
I see many lovely plays at twilight.

Writing is the bard Mâhî at twilight,
Painting are the rosy rays at twilight.
Ceyhun Mahi Aug 2017
The liar did say every kind of thing,
Sugar-coated talks, drunk it made the king.

Between the winter, between the autumn,
I saw the lovely summer and the spring.

Between the mockers, between the rulers,
At that gathering, a sweet voice did sing.

It is no love or lust; it's admiration,
For beauty and air a person does bring.

The bird of summer sings, teaches this place,
And Mâhî's near it; he's under its wing.
Ceyhun Mahi Jul 2017
The rosy hues become smoother after years,
And are still blossoming with juvenile airs.

Symphonies of the King of Pop are still played,
To this day on, now it even finely fares.

Spotting that girl in the streets at times of night,
The young fellow, a gift with his hand he shares.

The friends were made with a lot of love and glee,
What are the outcomes of those pretty affairs.

These lines adorned with rhymes are my merchandise,
Presented nicely at gleaming city squares.

He, the singer, tells a tale about a girl;
Mysterious airs and mysterious hairs.

Mâhî, you have narrated this many times,
Everyone knows perhaps your likes and your cares.
A collection of several thoughts.
Ceyhun Mahi Jul 2017
Not much have I narrated this story,
Who's about glee and about worry.

I became quiet after seeing her,
This bluesy woe; o soul, this does vary.

We are the nightingales of this garden,
We are the poets, wielding poetry.

This crafted work is veiling prejudice,
I don't see the hands crafting embroidery.

Sometimes a love, sometimes a description,
Mâhî's drawing a gleamy gallery.
Ceyhun Mahi Jul 2017
İnsanlarda bir adettir tebessüm,
Dar zamanlarda kuvvettir tebessüm.

Yakut dudaklar ile akşam üstü,
Şüpheli yerde rüşvettir tebessüm.

Taze taze bahar zamanlarda ki,
Sevenlere işarettir tebessüm.

Dediler ki hep; bir dilsiz dil vardır,
O dilsiz dilde evettir tebessüm.

Tanıdıklara ve yabancılara,
Ey Mâhî deme: "zahmettir tebessüm".
Composing gazels/ghazals in Turkish appeals a lot to me because you can put the words in almost any order you like (which comes in handy when using a redif/redeef) and the many words that rhyme with each other. Here is a translation:

Smiling is a tradition for people,
Smiling is a strength at hard times.

When it's night, at a suspicious place,
With ruby-lips, smiling is a bribe.

At the fresh times of spring,
Smiling is for the lovers a sign.

They said, there is a language without words,
Smiling means ''yes'' in that languages without words.

To the known and the strangers,
Don't say ''smiling is a hard thing to do'' o Mâhî.
Nicole Roberts Jul 2017
O sweet love of mine, please do not fear
For I am always here

Do not fret or sigh when the end is nigh
Don't you know I'm always here?

Even when I am far, I am near
I promise you that I'm always here

I will never stray though others may
Love, I am always here

Even in times of dismay and disarray
I am always here
Ceyhun Mahi Jul 2017
Lit-cities are with lit-nights decorated,
And lit-nights are with lit-brights decorated.

Monster movies making a rampaging mess,
Full and filled with power and fights decorated.

Pretty memory lane is up my alley,
Nicely with bright neon-lights decorated.

The rosy pictures who're posted online are
With eyes, with glows and delights decorated.

The glittering billows of dusty smoke spreads
The haze, and are with sprites decorated.
Back again with gazels/ghazals. I really do love this form.
Ceyhun Mahi Jul 2017
I'm in love again, with joy and woe again,
To where it does go, I do not know again.

The tunes and glitters, of the night and of love,
With bitter-sweetness do come and go again.

It breezes with love so quietly to me,
Towards this lovely wind, I must blow again.

These fancies of love, the admiring eyes,
To me it breezed so unknown and slow again.

O Mâhî, the lady of glitters got you!
This, it looks like a romantic show again.
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