Perfumed Memories

By GHULAM-SARWAR YOUSOF

Perfumed Memories is a unique collection of poetry showing influences from various Western as well as Eastern traditions. These include the manner in which thought is articulated and language is used. It demonstrates originality in aesthetics and incorporates religious as well as mystical ideas. The poems touch upon universal themes and issues, something previously unattempted in Malaysian poetry.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Partridge Publishing Singapore
• Release date: Mar 10, 2015
• ISBN: 9781482830200

GHULAM-SARWAR YOUSOF

Written by an expert on Malay traditional performing arts, One Hundred and One Things Malay will appeal to a wide range of readers, both experts and novices alike. Written in a casual, almost friendly style, and embellished with photograph as well as sketches, it will be particularly useful to those who have little or no previous understanding of Malay culture and its values.

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Copyright © 2015 by Ghulam-Sarwar Yousof.

ISBN:      eBook         978-1-4828-3020-0

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

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Contents

Introduction

for for all my muses

to …

Lone traveller

words

dust

i

insomnia

primeval night

bukit dumbar morning

poem

graduation

rain poem

beautiful evening

angsanas

ecstasy

the wild god

death of a god

images

national disaster

may 13, 1969

poem

tranquility

transgression

day dreaming

portrait

poem

encounter

rhythm

essence

verdict

drop

parting

god’s rain

conch-shell

fragrance

bird gliding

sunlight

midnight in a japanese garden

poem

offerings

poem

waiting

reverie

river

3.00 a.m.

suspended

latifah

today (at penang road)

the midnight satay-vendor

rodin’s thinker

sunday morning

hamilton library

Lengthening shadows

piano

the broken lei

tonight

driftwood

Honolulu nights

agony

dreams

poem

poem

hula hands

morning love

poem

poem

sometimes

waikiki morning

epitaph

morning tea at the east-west centre cafetaria

hari raya in Honolulu

travellers

honolulu airport

carvings on a grain of rice

a diary of haiku and shorter poems

(may 23, 1976 — july 29, 1976)

to a grain of rice

haiku i

butterfly

haiku ii

haiku iii

destiny

cold world

awakening

prayer

fearing i will lose you once again

sunset in her hair

face in the mirror

haiku iv

haiku v

haiku vi

haiku vii

dewdrop’s libations

girl in violet

midnight perfume

haiku viii

haiku ix

haiku x

haiku xi

the rains have come

summer children

plumeria in the sky’s hair

tangerine clouds

haiku xii

haiku xiii

haiku xiv

haiku xv

manoa rainbows

haiku xvi

daisy

haiku xvii

haiku xviii

let us go home to sleep

visiting moth

waterlilies in the rain

shadows

haiku xix

morning choir

without you

that morning

morning shadows

haiku ix

haiku xxi

haiku xxii

token

companions

waiting

haiku xxiii

dawn breezes

manoa stream

haiku xxiv

gardener’s lament

watching the carp

revelling grass

haiku xxv

haiku xxvi

dewdrop

haiku xxvii

eavesdropping

falling

death of a rose

haiku xxviii

reflection

dreams

haiku xxix

haiku xxx

Winter

farewell

haiku xxxi

haiku xxxii

dream

childhood rainbows

dewdrop

lotus

dying sun

mourning night

penance

haiku xxxiii

haiku xxxiv

immortal passing

angsanas

haiku xxxv

scarecrow

passing raincoat

pebble

tide

dream

haiku xxxvi

waiting

Glossary

Some of the poems in this book first appeared in:

Lidra (Kuala Lumpur)

Impulse (Honolulu)

Contact (Honolulu)

Mele (Honolulu)

Pacific Moana Quarterly (Hamilton, New Zealand)

The Second Tongue: An Anthology of Poetry from Malaysia and Singapore (Heinemann, Singapore)

Thanks are due to the respective editors and publishers.

Cover photograph by Robert C. Crock

Introduction

Languages choose their poets, with a profound, irrevocable embrace. Moreover, presiding muses and genii are demanding, as those who keep their company will testify. The poet visited by a second muse is likely to acknowledge her role as relatively minor. Were he not to, his readers will. John Milton wrote