Names Etched in Smoke

This ghazal traces the quiet residue of a love unseen. It’s a reflection on fading presence—how love can burn without being recognized, and how silence itself becomes a final, eloquent signature. It's soft, sorrowful, and emotionally rich, sitting at the edge of memory and absence.

In your gaze, your voice—there was no trace of me,

You passed me by, yet I was all you used to see.

My heart burned for you like a blindfolded flame,

But in the mirror—just a tale bore my name.

You smiled, and the night broke free from my dusk,

The sigh I breathed—was where I used to trust.

Though silence is all that remains of my song,

Even silence now whispers: I was here all along.