A Love Eternal: Inspired by Obayd Zakani

There is a beauty in this world so rare,
A grace no eye has seen, no heart can compare.
The curve of your silhouette, the light in your gaze—
None can offer directions to such a dreamlike maze.

No blossom in any garden blooms so bright,
No spring in any meadow carries such delight.
The world’s splendor pales where your shadow falls,
For you are the answer to love’s endless calls.

Each curl of your hair spins its own sweet storm,
Each glance from your eyes creates chaos and warm.
How could they know, the unscathed and free,
The havoc that love’s tangles can wreak on me?

Your beauty’s glow, the flame of this festal night,
Consumes me whole like the moth in flight.
I’ve no care for others, no longing astray—
Your light alone leads my heart’s every way.

I dream of union, a blissful embrace,
A fleeting vision of your radiant face.
Oh, how sweet is the dream, how warm the desire,
To drift in the realms where our hearts conspire.

Reason begged me to leave, to step away,
But against your charm, it has nothing to say.
For Obayd, like me, could find no cure,
Except to die at the feet of love so pure.

Let this be the tale I tell through time,
Of your unmatched beauty, both mortal and divine.
For even in longing, this truth rings clear:
Your love is a light that draws me near.

Ghazal in Original Persian:

بدین صفت سر و چشمی و قد و بالائی
کسی ندید و نشان کس نمیدهد جائی

چنین شکوفه نخندد به هیچ بستانی
چنین بهار نیاید به هیچ صحرائی

ز شست زلف تو هر حلقه‌ای و آشوبی
ز چشم مست تو هر گوشه‌ای و غوغائی

کجا ز حال پریشان ما خبر دارد
کسی که با سر زلفش نپخت سودائی

ز شوق پرتو رویت که شمع انجمن است
مرا ز غیر چو پروانه نیست پروائی

خیال وصل تمنی کنم همی در خواب
چه دلپذیر خیالی چه خوش تمنائی

خرد به ترک توام رای زد ولیک عبید
خلاف پیش تو مردن نمیزند رائی

The Chaos of Love: A Poetic Reflection

There are some loves that do not merely exist—they transform. They bend the rules of reason, turn the steady rhythm of life into a wild symphony, and leave the heart in chaos. Obayd Zakani, in his timeless ghazal, captures the essence of such a love—a love so consuming that it defies explanation, and yet, it is the only explanation the heart will ever need.

To gaze upon the beloved is to see beauty that no other has seen, a form and presence so radiant that it feels like a secret the world cannot fully hold. The poet marvels at a charm so rare that no other place, no other time, could ever hope to contain it. This is not just admiration—it is surrender.

Zakani’s words paint love as a paradoxical storm, where even the gentle curls of the beloved’s hair become a battlefield, each strand a trap that ensnares the heart. Their eyes, drunk with mystery, cast glances that unravel the calm, leaving behind nothing but longing and turbulence. In this storm, the poet stands willingly, for it is better to drown in love’s chaos than live untouched by its waves.

How could someone who has not suffered love’s madness understand its power? Zakani knows they cannot. Those untouched by the fire of passion may find love incomprehensible. But for the poet—and for anyone who has ever fallen so deeply—they know the truth: love is both torment and ecstasy, both ruin and rebirth.

The poet dreams of union, a fleeting vision of togetherness that seems to appear only in the stillness of sleep. Yet, even this dream is enough to sustain him. How sweet it is to imagine such closeness, to taste, even for a moment, the possibility of holding something so divine. The longing itself becomes a kind of solace, a cherished ache.

Reason, that cold voice of logic, may warn against such a love. It may urge retreat, whispering that survival lies in distance. But how can reason hope to triumph when the heart beats solely for the beloved? For Zakani, there is no greater act of devotion than to offer his very life at love’s feet, and no greater fate than to be consumed by it.

This poem reminds us that love, in its truest form, is not a choice. It is an upheaval. It is chaos. It is surrender. And yet, in that surrender lies the most profound beauty—a beauty that lingers in the heart, long after the words have been spoken, long after the dream has faded.

To love like this is to live fully, even in longing. It is to stand before the divine, not with fear, but with open arms, ready to be reshaped by its fire.

And truly, what better way is there to live?