Poem: "Piraan"
This poem came out of the August 3, 2010 Poetry Fishbowl. It was inspired and sponsored by marina_bonomi. Like " Shadow Staves," this poem touches on my desert, the Whispering Sands -- and this time you get to see the kind of omens written by that literate land. A couple words of Seshaa vocabulary appear after the poem itself.
Piraan
- a Whispering Sands khazal
The dust of the desert lies smooth and dry,
Combed by the patiently murmuring wind.
If I could, I would brush away the grains of your days
And level my memory with a sweep of my flattened hand.
What is it in me that seeks your presence
As rainwater runs down to fill an empy well?
What is it in you that craves my fulfillment
As dune grass searches through sand for a drop of dew?
I do not know the answers to these questions that lie between us,
but my mind scrapes at them like fingernails over an itching sunburn.
The dust of the desert is silent except for the sound of wings,
Colorless but for a glint of gold dancing against the duff.
When I turn to see what the oracle beetle has written,
I find it tracing the elegant syllables of your name.
* * *
piraan (noun) - In Whispering Sands use, means “a message in sand or dust.” This is a type of tefna (“omen”) in which the ripples in sand or dust, or some other soft powdery substance, look like words and suggest messages to the viewer.
renapiraan (noun) - In Whispering Sands use, means “doodlebug,” “oracle beetle,” or “insect which writes omens in dust.” A common species has gold wing covers.