27 August 2013

LOVE DEVOURS ME

LOVE DEVOURS ME 
© Farouk Asvat  

This room has not seen a flower
In your absence

     Something acid
     And deep-felt
     Rests on my chest

          And I cannot decipher the music
          That dances in your heart

You know
I am wounded by kisses
Silenced by love
You know I have learnt
How to loose the game
Never the war
That was inherent in our love

          But waiting for you
          Love devours me

          Waiting for you
          Love devours me

After all these imprisonments
These nights
Wrestling with ancestors
These days
Dealing with slippery manifestoes
After all these mirages of revolutions
These dances with shadows
I still go down and pray
To whatever gods are out there
To suck my life away

     Inscrutably
     Your mouth devouring me
     Like a quivering candle
     Devouring the darkness.

          Waiting for you
          Love devours me.

          Waiting for you
          Love devours me.


© farouk asvat

composed: 16.06.1986 [Johannesburg, South Africa under apartheid] [ph]

[] Acknowledgements:

Love Devours Me was previously published in:

     The Wind Still Sings Sad Songs (piquant publications, p19, 2006);
     www.faroukasvat-poems.blogspot.com (27.08.2013);
     The Wind Still Sings Sad Songs (kindle, 2014);
     The Wind Still Sings Sad Songs (amazon paperback, p17, 2014).
______________________________________________________________
[§] Books by Farouk Asvat:

Sadness In The House Of Love (novel)
The Gathering Of The Storm (novel)
I Dream In Long Sentences (poetry)
The Wind Still Sings Sad Songs (poetry)
A Celebration Of Flames (poetry)
The Time Of Our Lives (poetry)
Bra Frooks … (poetry)*
The Paanies Are Coming (short stories)*
In The House Of Love (novel)*
Weapons Of Words (comparative literature & literary criticism)

¨ all my books are now available on amazon: in paperback & kindle
______________________________________________________________
© farouk asvat.  All rights reserved.

Farouk Asvat asserts his moral right to be identified as the author of this work.
No part of this publication may be reproduced by any means whatsoever, or transmitted in any form or any means whatsoever, mechanical or electronic, including recording, printing, photocopying, or via any computerised means or media, including the internet.  This publication shall also not be stored in a retrieval system.  And the writing shall not be sold, lent, hired, resold or circulated in any form or binding or cover other than that in which it is published,
without the prior permission of the author in writing.
Permission to publish or reproduce the writings in any format can be obtained from the author.
Reproduction of this work without permission, except for scholarly & nonprofit purposes,
is liable to a payment of 10, 000 ren men bi or US$ 1,500.

farouk asvat can be contacted at: farouk.asvat@gmail.com

[] please check out my blogs @:





books by farouk asvat: www.faroukasvat-books.blogspot.com

[] also link up on:






amazon kindle author @ www.amazon.com/author/faroukasvat

[][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][]
the NOVEL Sadness In The House Of Love by Farouk Asvat
is now available on amazon: in paperback @ $15 & kindle @ only $5
[][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][]

#love #literature #fiction #novel #poetry #southafrica #apartheid #books #classics
#faroukasvat #weapons of words #comparative #literature #literary #criticism
#the wind still sings sad songs #love devours me 


20 August 2013

THE BEASTS THAT I HARBOUR ...

THE BEASTS THAT I HARBOUR IN MY HEART 
© Farouk Asvat 

          In the delicateness of the butterfly
          That flutters within your heart
                                                            you suffer.

     White pigeons scatter in our lovely garden.

The beasts that I harbour in my heart
Come to life at night,
Seconds tick on like threats in a timebomb:
The night is more awake and alive
Than our days filled with slaughter.

There is so much affection gone to waste
So much of the madness of love between us
That a shadow of disdain
Flits across your face,
While the fluttering ache of another poem
Comes to brood on my silent abdomen.

     With you I knew sadness;
     It creeped into our laughter.
     Misfortune was our companion
     Sadness piled upon sadness
     In the silence of the night.

Tenuously
I hold on to the rhythm of the seasons
Tenuously
I hold on to our hopeless revolution
     Your downy little dove trembling
     Between my tender loins
     Softening the creases on my rocky face,
     Oblivious of the ghost of savage mourning
     That grows talons in my chest.

          Still,
          I accept you with too many questions
          Lingering on the periphery of other dreams
          Dancing on the graves of other lovers
          Ululating with the ghosts of youngsters
          Dancing with machetes around our bed,
          Offering you everything
          As if there were no tomorrow.

          If only I could learn myself in you.
          If only I could
          Receive some of your forgetfulness
          As a blessing and a curse.

But the wraiths of other lovers
Writhe within our sheets,
Wailing ancestors
Dance in our dances,
While we try
To pirouette into oblivion,
Always the oblivion
Of the moment.


© farouk asvat

composed: 1983 - 1988 [Johannesburg, South Africa under apartheid] [v]

[] Acknowledgements:

The Beasts That I Harbour In My Heart was previously published in:

     The Wind Still Sings Sad Songs (piquant publications, p17, 2006);
     www.faroukasvat-poems.blogspot.com (20.08.2013);
     The Wind Still Sings Sad Songs (kindle, 2014);
     The Wind Still Sings Sad Songs (amazon paperback, p19, 2014).
______________________________________________________________
[§] Books by Farouk Asvat:

Sadness In The House Of Love (novel)
The Gathering Of The Storm (novel)
I Dream In Long Sentences (poetry)
The Wind Still Sings Sad Songs (poetry)
A Celebration Of Flames (poetry)
The Time Of Our Lives (poetry)
Bra Frooks … (poetry)*
The Paanies Are Coming (short stories)*
In The House Of Love (novel)*
Weapons Of Words (comparative literature & literary criticism)

¨ all my books are now available on amazon: in paperback & kindle

______________________________________________________________
© farouk asvat.  All rights reserved.

Farouk Asvat asserts his moral right to be identified as the author of this work.
No part of this publication may be reproduced by any means whatsoever, or transmitted in any form or any means whatsoever, mechanical or electronic, including recording, printing, photocopying, or via any computerised means or media, including the internet.  This publication shall also not be stored in a retrieval system.  And the writing shall not be sold, lent, hired, resold or circulated in any form or binding or cover other than that in which it is published,
without the prior permission of the author in writing.
Permission to publish or reproduce the writings in any format can be obtained from the author.
Reproduction of this work without permission, except for scholarly & nonprofit purposes,
is liable to a payment of 10, 000 ren men bi or US$ 1,500.

farouk asvat can be contacted at: farouk.asvat@gmail.com

[] please check out my blogs @:





books by farouk asvat: www.faroukasvat-books.blogspot.com

[] also link up on:






amazon kindle author @ www.amazon.com/author/faroukasvat

[][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][]
the NOVEL Sadness In The House Of Love by Farouk Asvat
is now available on amazon: in paperback @ $15 & kindle @ only $5
[][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][]

#love #literature #fiction #novel #poetry #southafrica #apartheid #books #classics
#faroukasvat #weapons of words #comparative #literature #literary #criticism
#the wind still sings sad songs #the #beasts #that #i #harbour 


13 August 2013

YOUR POEMS ARE LOCKED IN MY HEART

YOUR POEMS ARE LOCKED IN MY HEART 
© Farouk Asvat 

Your poems are locked in my heart.
Life itself seems to trap them there.

Walking the gauntlet
Of revolutionary songs
Scented bouquets came your way
Love song upon love song
Stabbing me in the liver.

     How life would have been
     A dance!
     If only we knew
     The blood
     That lives within us.

But there are so many flowers between us
It could fill a cemetery.

And in the distance between us
And the shimmering jewels of the universe
There are hardly any tears
I would appreciate on my grave.

          So forget me now
          For it will take a death
          To forget you.

          Lost in love
          You sent your song
          Upon the wind.
          Lost in love
          I cried
          At the sound of farewell.

But even now,
Every thought of you
Settles like rubble in the stomach
Lingers like an electric shock in the brain
Grows like an abscess bursting into the world

Because love remains:
     Strange shadows
     Playing weird patterns
     In an empty heart,
     With not even a smile between us.


© farouk asvat

composed: 09.05.1983 - 23.05.1988 [Cape Town, South Africa under apartheid] [w]

[] Acknowledgements:

Your Poems Are Locked In My Heart was previously published in:

     The Wind Still Sings Sad Songs (piquant publications, p15, 2006);
     www.faroukasvat-poems.blogspot.com (13.08.2013);
     The Wind Still Sings Sad Songs (kindle, 2014);
     The Wind Still Sings Sad Songs (amazon paperback, p21, 2014).
______________________________________________________________
[§] Books by Farouk Asvat:

Sadness In The House Of Love (novel)
The Gathering Of The Storm (novel)
I Dream In Long Sentences (poetry)
The Wind Still Sings Sad Songs (poetry)
A Celebration Of Flames (poetry)
The Time Of Our Lives (poetry)
Bra Frooks … (poetry)*
The Paanies Are Coming (short stories)*
In The House Of Love (novel)*
Weapons Of Words (comparative literature & literary criticism)

¨ all my books are now available on amazon: in paperback & kindle
______________________________________________________________
© farouk asvat.  All rights reserved.

Farouk Asvat asserts his moral right to be identified as the author of this work.
No part of this publication may be reproduced by any means whatsoever, or transmitted in any form or any means whatsoever, mechanical or electronic, including recording, printing, photocopying, or via any computerised means or media, including the internet.  This publication shall also not be stored in a retrieval system.  And the writing shall not be sold, lent, hired, resold or circulated in any form or binding or cover other than that in which it is published,
without the prior permission of the author in writing.
Permission to publish or reproduce the writings in any format can be obtained from the author.
Reproduction of this work without permission, except for scholarly & nonprofit purposes,
is liable to a payment of 10, 000 ren men bi or US$ 1,500.

farouk asvat can be contacted at: farouk.asvat@gmail.com

[] please check out my blogs @:





books by farouk asvat: www.faroukasvat-books.blogspot.com

[] also link up on:






amazon kindle author @ www.amazon.com/author/faroukasvat

[][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][]
the NOVEL Sadness In The House Of Love by Farouk Asvat
is now available on amazon: in paperback @ $15 & kindle @ only $5
[][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][]

#love #literature #fiction #novel #poetry #southafrica #apartheid #books #classics
#faroukasvat #weapons of words #comparative #literature #literary #criticism
#the wind still sings sad songs #your #poems are #locked in my #heart 


06 August 2013

THE WIND STILL SINGS SAD SONGS

THE WIND STILL SINGS SAD SONGS 
© Farouk Asvat 

Now that love is dead,
And you, bemused,
Go your whimsical way
I realise

That kindness is a curse
That one cannot live on dreams
The periphery of other lives
The thin moment between life and death
The gesture between love and the ocean

That we have to lead our own lives
For beneath the facade of defiance
Lurks the heart of vulnerability
Even as you offer your lips
And I gaze child-eyed at the laughing parade

It is not easy, my love
The hungry fingers yearn
And the songs of our lives
Keep repeating themselves

     So if it was love
     How come the wind still sings sad songs
     How come the stars still explode silently
     How come the sun barely leaves a shadow
     And my eyes are always moist.

          Forged by the obscene embrace of cold men
          In the grey streets of another city
          The massacre in my eyes
          Is filled with mournful sighs
          With the deep anxiety of oppression
          With the full-hearted laughter of infinite despair
          With the profound sadness of the universe.

     Yet, sweetly so much you gave so trustingly.
     Was it my chestnut horse's eyes
     That gazed into your gushing blood
     With that no-man-fuck! look?
     Was it the strength of my loneliness
     Or the weakness of my gentleness
     That made you undress
     As eagerly as I sought your searing passion
     With my turgid branch?
     Or was it just another memory
      In a misty haze of faces
     Between saturn rockets
     And the void of space?
     Or was it the first
     Of a thousand and one nights?

There was a time I believed the wind
Believed orchids bloomed in scraggy gardens
Believed I could give you revolutions
Of the infinite galaxies
Believed we could dance on stardust
Sail on solar breezes
Fly on angelwing

     But you released me like a burning asteroid
     Plummeting into myself
     Leaving me only seasand and seashells

          I did not feel
          The sandsting in the seawind
          I did not taste
          Snoek and sewer in the air
          I only saw the sea
          Through armourplate glass

It was then that I realised
That it was in life
That you were unattainable:

     The undulating beauty of the beach
     The knowledge of the stars
     A world of dreams
     Spiralling down
     To suburban gardens;
     It was then I knew
     That nights invite the morning
     Loneliness love
     Desire another delight
     For a bouquet of diamonds
     In a cup full of sorrow.

But still
After all these tears
After all these curses
I cast upon you
I look you in the eye
And lay your restless ghost to rest.

But still
Our lives are bound
By tenuous emotions
By spittle threads
Of tender desires

          So when you hear me singing
          Love songs in the wind
          Know that I am merely weeping


© farouk asvat

***** 5-STAR GOODREADS REVIEW

"Currently reading a book of incredible poems by @faroukasvat
called "The Wind Still Sings Sad Songs".  The title poem brought me to tears."
     ● Léonicka, DynamicAfrica et al on twitter

"... they are very powerful literary missiles: ... capable of the most beguiling love poetry,
as can be seen in "Love Devours Me".
     ● Asha Naidoo, Legal Resources Centre

composed: 1980 - 1996 [cape town & johannesburg, south africa under apartheid] [w]

[] Acknowledgements:

The Wind Still Sings Sad Songs was previously published in:
as
() One Cannot Live On Dreams
&
() We Have To Lead Our Own Lives:
      [part of The Wind Still Sings Sad Songs: section previously published in:
          English Academy Review # 3 (University of the Witwatersrand, p6, 1985)].
&
() It Is Not Easy, My Love:
      [part of The Wind Still Sings Sad Songs: previously published in:
          Exiles Within (Writers, Forum, Johannesburg, p0, 1986);

[] new updated version: 2006
     The Wind Still Sings Sad Songs (piquant publications, p12, 2006);
     The Wind Still Sings Sad Songs (kindle, 2014);
     The Wind Still Sings Sad Songs (amazon paperback, p23, 2014).
___________________________________________________________________________    
[§] Books by Farouk Asvat:

Sadness In The House Of Love (novel)
The Gathering Of The Storm (novel)
I Dream In Long Sentences (poetry)
The Wind Still Sings Sad Songs (poetry)
A Celebration Of Flames (poetry)
The Time Of Our Lives (poetry)
This Masquerade (short stories)
Bra Frooks … (poetry)*
The Paanies Are Coming (short stories)*
In The House Of Love (novel)*
Weapons Of Words (comparative literature & literary criticism)

¨ all my books are now available on amazon: in paperback & kindle
___________________________________________________________________________    
[] please check out my blogs @:


[] please join me on:

___________________________________________________________________________    
© farouk asvat.  All rights reserved.
Farouk Asvat asserts his moral right to be identified as the author of this work.
No part of this publication may be reproduced by any means whatsoever, or transmitted in any form or any means whatsoever, mechanical or electronic, including recording, printing, photocopying, or via any computerised means or media, including the internet.  This publication shall also not be stored in a retrieval system.  And the writing shall not be sold, lent, hired, resold or circulated in any form or binding or cover other than that in which it is published,
without the prior permission of the author in writing.
Permission to publish or reproduce the writings in any format can be obtained from the author.
Reproduction of this work without permission, except for scholarly & nonprofit purposes,
is liable to a payment of 10, 000 ren men bi or US$ 1,500.

[][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][]
the NOVEL Sadness In The House Of Love by Farouk Asvat
is now available on amazon: in paperback @ $15 & kindle @ only $5
[][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][]

#love #literature #fiction #novel #poetry #southafrica #apartheid #books #classics
#faroukasvat #weapons #of #words #comparative #literature #literary #criticism
#the #wind #still #sings #sad #songs #the #wind #still #sings #sad #songs 


___________________________________________________________________________    
[] REVIEWS:

§ THE WIND STILL SINGS SAD SONGS by FAROUK ASVAT (poetry)

***** 5-STAR GOODREADS REVIEW 

"You are amazing!!!!! … vey impressive".
     ● Jill Townsend, Council of Grandmothers, Ojai, California, USA (linkedin, 21.07.2013)

"Currently reading a book of incredible poems by @faroukasvat
called "The Wind Still Sings Sad Songs".  The title poem brought me to tears."
     ● Léonicka, DynamicAfrica et al on twitter

"The legend of poet extraordinaire Farouk Asvat: ... like vintage wine, proper poetry matures with time, and like vintage art the voice and wisdom of a poet worth the name is timeless. 
     ● Mphutlane wa Bofelo, "kagablog"

"... they are very powerful literary missiles: ... capable of the most beguiling love poetry, as can be seen in "Love Devours Me".
     ● Asha Naidoo, Legal Resources Centre

"… a guided tour of the souls of the South Africans he writes about and cares about. 
Hauntingly universal ..."
     ● Thomas Rome, New York

"The Wind Still Sings Sad Songs ... is an important addition to any discerning reader's literary collection."
     ● Victor Metsoamere, "Sowetan"