Thank you, Paula, and welcome to the Sphere! I’m delighted to have introduced you to the ghazal, a form I’m quite taken with, though I have to admit that a few months ago I didn’t know what one was either. I had probably read ghazals and been clueless. Here’s a recent thread in which I was trying to learn more:
https://www.ablemuse.com/erato/showt...ghlight=ghazal.
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Originally Posted by Paula Fernandez
I also like Glenn's idea of working in the modern reference to Mosul and Fallujah (somehow).
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The Iraqi War is in there, as I told Glenn, though it may be too veiled.
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Originally Posted by Paula Fernandez
The one sher where I couldn't understand the reference was "In latter days, men stand astride the world and scale the skies no more in Babylon." I get that "scale the skies" references the tower of Babel again, but I'm not sure what is meant by "stand astride the world".
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I meant Alexander, who made it his mission to conquer the world and is often said to have succeeded. That sher was intended to sum up the “history” of Babylon from the Tower of Babel through Alexander and was originally meant to end the poem.