Ghazals Quotes

“I was dead
I came alive
I was tears
I became laughter

All because of love
when it arrived
my temporal life
from then on
changed to eternal

Love said to me
you are not
crazy enough
you don’t
fit this house

I went and
became crazy
crazy enough
to be in chains

Love said
you are not
intoxicated enough
you don’t
fit the group

I went and
got drunk
drunk enough
to overflow
with light-headedness

Love said
you are still
too clever
filled with
imagination and skepticism

I went and
became gullible
and in fright
pulled away
from it all

Love said
you are a candle
attracting everyone
gathering every one
around you

I am no more
a candle spreading light
I gather no more crowds
and like smoke
I am all scattered now

Love said
you are a teacher
you are a head
and for everyone
you are a leader

I am no more
not a teacher
not a leader
just a servant
to your wishes

Love said
you already have
your own wings
I will not give you
more feathers

And then my heart
pulled itself apart
and filled to the brim
with a new light
overflowed with fresh life

Now even the heavens
are thankful that
because of love
I have become
the giver of light”
― Rumi

“The ghazals are convincing, and patience is a powerful weapon…but the heart of a timid man will never win his lady.”
― Fábio Moon, Two Brothers

“The Maronite Christian women in Manaus could not tolerate the notion of Zana marrying a Muslim. A mere tinker, a peddler, a roughneck, a Muslim from the mountains of Southern Lebanon, they’d say. Ah, these passions in the provinces. It’s like being onstage, listening to the audience booing two actors playing two lovers. The more they booed, the more perfume I put on the marriage sheets. It was a greedy and vengeful kiss, I silenced those rattling tongues…and all of Abbas’s ghazals were in that kiss.”
― Fábio Moon, Two Brothers

“Vasiyat Mir ne mujh ko yehi ki
Ki sab kuchh hona tu, aashiq na hona.”
― Ralph Russell, A Thousand Yearnings: A book of Urdu Poetry and Prose

“Rheumy eyes replaced recitals of Rumi ghazals.”
― Soroosh Shahrivar, Tajrish