Lovers
Lovers - form Summary
Ghazal Frame Evokes Departure
Rumi's poem titled lovers
uses the ghazal form: a sequence of autonomous couplets bound by a recurring direct address and musical cadence. The opening apostrophe to the beloved functions like a refrain, turning each couplet into both a self-contained image and a step in a larger summons to depart. Caravan, drum, and star imagery gain intensity from the form's incantatory repetition, making the poem feel like ritual instruction rather than a single narrative. The ghazal's compact lyrical units create trance-like motion toward spiritual leaving.
O lovers, lovers it is time to set out from the world. I hear a drum in my soul's ear coming from the depths of the stars. Our camel driver is at work; the caravan is being readied. He asks that we forgive him for the disturbance he has caused us, He asks why we travelers are asleep. Everywhere the murmur of departure; the stars, like candles thrust at us from behind blue veils, and as if to make the invisible plain, a wondrous people have come forth.
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