Truth

This photo portrays a sunset in May. The poem below is a ghazal, a Persian form generally composed of five or twelve long-lined couplets, often developing mystical and/or romantic themes. The same rhyme occurs at the end of each couplet as in “aa, ba, ca, da” format (Bishop, Thirty Ways of Looking for a Poem. 409).

Ghazal of Truth

A thousand words is not enough to express the meaning of truth,
but in a single sentence one can boldly proclaim the truth.

When I was walking in the deep valley of free thoughts,
it occurred to me that everywhere I go I saw truth.

If my mind had not been entangled by this wonderland,
I would not have gone astray in my search for the truth.

But on the day I flew out of the valley I knew for certain
I have been truly set free by the power of the truth.

I came to realize: the very things I saw in the valley were
merely the shadows of the real thing itself--- the truth.