years of cars without heat
whole winters endured without any heat

the intricacy in itself
ghazals of desire without the heat

acorn cap on the hood
the crackle of runoff

kid pulls on the locked library door
my patience now a thing without heat

house, just just just just just, house house house house, just just just just just, over over over over over, then then then then

"The very much more fortunate twentieth-century lover who was born and brought up in one of the countries of the modern West can best envisage the situation of the lover in the ghazal if we compare it with what a black lover of a white beloved or a white lover of a black beloved can face in societies such as South Africa or the southern states of the USA." --Ralph Russell in: The Oxford India Ghalib (2003)