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

> @ www.amazon.com/author/faroukasvat

______________________________________________________________

© 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 @:

poems: www.faroukasvat-poems.blogspot.com

weapons of words: www.faroukasvat-viewpoint.blogspot.com

piquante: www.faroukasvat-piquant.blogspot.com

piqued: www.faroukasvat-piqued.blogspot.com

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

[] also link up on:

google+: www.google.com/+faroukasvat

linkedin: www.linkedin.com/farouk-asvat

facebook: www.facebook.com/faroukasvat

youtube: www.youtube.com/c/faroukasvat

twitter: www.twitter.com/faroukasvat

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 

     www.faroukasvat-poems.blogspot.com 

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

> @ www.amazon.com/author/faroukasvat

______________________________________________________________

© 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 @:

poems: www.faroukasvat-poems.blogspot.com

weapons of words: www.faroukasvat-viewpoint.blogspot.com

piquante: www.faroukasvat-piquant.blogspot.com

piqued: www.faroukasvat-piqued.blogspot.com

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

[] also link up on:

google+: www.google.com/+faroukasvat

linkedin: www.linkedin.com/farouk-asvat

facebook: www.facebook.com/faroukasvat

youtube: www.youtube.com/c/faroukasvat

twitter: www.twitter.com/faroukasvat

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 

     www.amazon.com/author/faroukasvat 

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

> @ www.amazon.com/author/faroukasvat

______________________________________________________________

© 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 @:

poems: www.faroukasvat-poems.blogspot.com

weapons of words: www.faroukasvat-viewpoint.blogspot.com

piquante: www.faroukasvat-piquant.blogspot.com

piqued: www.faroukasvat-piqued.blogspot.com

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

[] also link up on:

google+: www.google.com/+faroukasvat

linkedin: www.linkedin.com/farouk-asvat

facebook: www.facebook.com/faroukasvat

youtube: www.youtube.com/c/faroukasvat

twitter: www.twitter.com/faroukasvat

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 

     www.amazon.com/author/faroukasvat 

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

@ https://www.goodreads.com/faroukasvat

"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);

     https://faroukasvat-poems.blogspot.com/2013/08/the-wind-still-sings-sad-songs.html (06.08.2013);

     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

@ https://www.amazon.com/author/faroukasvat

___________________________________________________________________________    

[] please check out my blogs @:

poems: https://faroukasvat-poems.blogspot.com

weapons of words: https://faroukasvat-viewpoint.blogspot.com

piquante: https://faroukasvat-piquant.blogspot.com

piqued: https://faroukasvat-piqued.blogspot.com

streetwise: https://faroukasvat-lingo.blogspot.com

quran: https://quran-faroukasvat.blogspot.com

quran lectures: https://faroukasvat-quran.blogspot.com

verse: https://faroukasvat-verse.blogspot.com

notes: https://faroukasvat-notes.blogspot.com

biography: https://faroukasvat-bio.blogspot.com

stories: https://faroukasvat-stories.blogspot.com

reviews: https://faroukasvat-reviews.blogspot.com

books by farouk asvat: https://faroukasvat-books.blogspot.com

[] please join me on:

linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/today/author/farouk-asvat-52a6b642

linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/farouk-asvat-52a6b642

facebook: https://www.facebook.com/faroukasvat

twitter: https://twitter.com/faroukasvat

youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tDlracNOh9E/faroukasvat

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

___________________________________________________________________________    

© 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 

● https://faroukasvat-poems.blogspot.com

● https://www.linkedin.com/in/farouk-asvat-52a6b642

● https://en.everybodywiki.com/Farouk_Asvat

● https://www.amazon.com/author/faroukasvat 

___________________________________________________________________________    

[] REVIEWS:

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

***** 5-STAR GOODREADS REVIEW 

@ https://www.goodreads.com/faroukasvat

"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"