A book on you just arrived. Solid in a nebulous Pandemic Night when nothing holds Upright, wide awake, I read on.You having written, lie sleeping forever In a silent garden nearby Childhood compatriotOf Cashmere and Sufi pearlsAnd carnivorous cuisine Your flamboyant concoctions Served with mesmerizing poetry Incredulous applause. Mind and body. Reaching for the moon You brought it down to us Along with a snatching of stars Lit by this dazzling literary infusionWe glowed in the dark Of our comparative incompetence “I don’t get your verse now! We wrote as children but you Went to the stratosphere. Ghazals, Villanelles, Canzones?Some forms I get, most not, thoughThe words shine through,” I said. “You will one day” you said. I did.New York University Memorial.Eminent poets recite. You knew? A Sufi, prophet son of Sufia!Supine you stand tall above us all Rest well, the best are far behind. Amherst, 2021. Sudha Koul is author of Tiger Ladies: A Memoir of Kashmir.
