A river of ripples open and shut sudden glimpses of secrets.

The touch of a wave the end of thirt A door opening into completion.

Note: Sari is the classic sub continental dress worn by women. It also means 'complete'.

Is she hidden in the rain, the one who is sought even this year? Weather prophets, mournfully, predict a drought, even this year.

Go! Tonight you have an invitation to the palace of broken mirrors. Only in rooms of glass can forgetting be taught, even this year.

Who heard first, on the radio, about love's hurricane? Doesn't matter. Drink the tears love brought, even this year.

Hush! Don't speak of silence. Don't speak of murder and oppression. No prophet will come to unite death's invisible knot, even this year.

There is no escape from the butchers. Stand Witness. Tickets to exile can't be sold or bought, even this year.

In America, where History sloughs it's skin every season, Beloved, your advice to love we forgot, even this year.

There is no calculation mistake, O Shahid, in this sum of ache. Teach me how to bear it, for to Pain He - the most merciful and compassionate - has alloted even this year.

For Agha Shahid Ali - the Beloved Witness

Note: The poem is written in a form called the Ghazal. It became canonical in Persian poetry around 12th century. It consists of couplets, with a refrain (even this year) and a rhyme scheme (sought, drought, taught etc). Shahid was largely responsible for popularizing the Ghazal in American poetry.