The ghazal is an ancient poetic form thought to have originated in 7th-century Arabic, and which later spread to medieval Persia via the work of the famed mystical poets Rumi and Hafez. In modern times, it is frequently performed in song in countries such as Iran and Pakistan, and has been brought into English by a number of contemporary poets, perhaps most notably by Agha Shahid Ali. The form typically consists of long-lined couplets with a repeated end word or phrase concluding each; the final couplet must reference (either explicitly or implicitly) the speaker’s name. In “Heart Failure: A Ghazal,” although written in quatrains (to fit into the JAMA poetry section), a classic theme of the ghazal, melancholy, is addressed. The repeated word “ponder” not only emphasizes the speaker’s meditative tone as he nears the end of his life, but also its sonic heaviness, punctuated by periods end-stopping each stanza, deepening the sense of search for meaning and closure. Yet the form’s inherent musicality, in its repetitions and in the sweep of its long sentences, also feels somehow sustaining, perhaps even neverendingly hopeful. The keen paradox between imminent mortality and the delights of intimate reflection is poignantly, even mystically, expressed, and certainly worth savoring, in the final lines: “…Thelonious Monk, some foolish old shoes,/a dog’s odd behavior, good books and fragments/of chat…//If you aren’t ended yet, there must be/a future doubtless with plenty to ponder.”
