Mortality and Grief

"Ghazal" is a poem of grieving. Its central focus is on the overwhelming sorrow of a daughter recalling the death of her mother, but there is an undercurrent of generalized sadness at work too. While the main human subject appears to be the mother, the speaker's presence in every line is heavy and foreboding. Her grief stems not only from her parent's death but from recognition of her own mortality as well.

Losing a loved one naturally brings about suffering and bereavement in those left behind. The speaker is pained by the memories of her mother's songs and flowers and the "sacred" times they had together when she was a child. She feels deep sorrow in recalling the last time she saw her mother, apparently saying their usual goodbyes after a visit at the parent's home out in the West. Neither, of course, knows that it...