Falling Pomegranate Seeds
Original Post Date: January 27, 2025. This was an assignment for ENG358 – The Romantic Poets, and is written in the style of “The Coronation of Inês de Castro” by Felicia Hemans. This version instead is a retelling of accounts of Anarkali and Salim. The last line rephrases a Saadi verse that is inscribed on the gravestone in Anarkali’s tomb.
Amongst the courtyards of the ornate hall
Outside, a pomegranate garden blooms
Between resplendent minarets, under the canopy,
Muted, muffled sobs shake the empty bedrooms.
As the eunuchs bow beneath the entryways,
To spread the word from door to royal door,
The house of a hundred women never swayed
But one scion, christened an eternal paramour.
The garden hides among octagon walls,
Glistening stone conceal an envious sin
No office, no war, and no holy conquest
Doth ever silence the cries sounding within
The enraptured son, brash and frail
Found his Layla in his father’s eye,
A stolen glance, and a hundred men avail
For a lover must never once say goodbye.
Still unremembered, who was it that doth
Caught the gaze of the wandering Majnun,
A solitary glance, and in reflection saw
This wondrous seed revoked a moment too soon.
Thus, to hidden sepulchers she was immured,
And threatened the regnant with war to be waged.
Betrothed once thousands, and royal jewels did allure,
The seizer of worlds then lay claim to the stage.
She was precious, sweet pomegranate.
Did dance the way laughter flows to the heart
The king wet the ink that wrote their legend
Alas! Then tore them forever apart.
A lover of women, yet still so cruel
Her fate tangled in the battles of a prince
And paler kings, whose fables nary fool
A wise man, of blood that could never rinse.
An ancient poet, with years of dust to his name
Lent words, so sweet, so tender, yet for naught!
To a lover, the name of God he does repeat
As her lungs spilled over, walled in distraught
No man shall chronicle, but birds may sing
And the words of the prisoner’s amour
Said he, I thank thee till my life you bring
Could I behold the face of my beloved once more.
