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To a Sand Gazelle

You must believe the light will carry you,
Across the Rub al Khali of your life.
Let happy times light up your whole life through.

Green oases are scattered through the dunes,
It’s true, the empty quarter nurtures life.
You must believe the light will carry you.

Though shifting sands sing to a diff’rent tune,
A barchan dune lives out its crescent life.
Let happy times light up your whole life through.

The sun, relentless sears the sands, it’s true,
Dear, Sand Gazelle, you still can make a life.
You must believe the light will carry you.

The desert sands hold seeds that morning’s dew
Will sprout and so sustain you through this life.
Let happy times light up your whole life through.

The sifting sands will always welcome you.
Come home, come home, reclaim your desert life.
You must believe the light will carry you,
Let happy times light up your whole life through.

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The Rub’ al Khaliˈ(rʊb æl ˈkɑːli/;[1] (/ar.rubʕ alxaːli), the “Empty Quarter”): the sand desert encompassing most of the southern third of the Arabian Peninsula.

Poet’s Note: Sand Gazelles are almost extinct in their native habitat. A programme by the Saudi Government and Aramco is re-introducing them to the area.

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Rohini Sunderam is author of Corpoetry – Desert Flower – Five Lives One Day in Bahrain published by Ex-L-Ence Publishing. She is a Canadian of Indian origin, and a semi-retired advertising copywriter. Find out more about her on her blog or on Amazon. 

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The Society of Classical Poets does not endorse any views expressed in individual poems or commentary.

40 Responses

  1. Roy Eugene Peterson

    Nicely done villanelle with the wonderful repetitive plaintive refrain, “You must believe the light will carry you.” Projecting that thought onto our own lives, we must believe the same is true for us as it is for the gazelle. Great lesson for all of us galloping through our own deserts!

    Reply
    • Rohini

      Thank you. This is my first attempt at writing a villanelle. I used the SCP lesson to finally knuckle down and do it.

      Reply
  2. Paddy Raghunathan

    The first three lines are simply mesmerizing.

    Sweet villanelle.

    Congrats Rohini.

    Reply
    • Rohini

      Thank you, Paddy! They were buzzing in my head one morning and I had to write them into a poem to stop them 🙂

      Reply
  3. Noor

    Dear, Sand Gazelle, you still can make a life.
    You must believe the light will carry you.

    This spoke to me. A mesmerizing poem , Rohini

    Reply
  4. Deborah

    The prettiest thing I’ve read on SCP in a long while. Absolutely beautiful. Many juxtapositions. I will think about this fondly for a very looking time.

    Reply
    • Rohini

      Thank you! It’s such a thrill to see the comments. And, as usual the SCP always has a beautiful image to accompany the poetry.

      Reply
  7. Muneera Mohammed Ali

    A truly wonderful and poetic depiction of the life of a sand gazelle. I can instantly visualise the green oases and the sprouting seeds sustaining the little gazelle. “You must believe the light will carry you.”- words to live by. Fantastic effort and thanks for introducing me to the villanelle form of poetry writing, Rohini!

    Reply
    • Geeta

      Loved it Rohini!!! Immediately drew parallels with my own life and was glad for the Hope that exuded from your Villanelle…
      May the light shine and May it carry us through our parched and empty spaces

      Reply
  9. Deborah

    Evan, please. More of the beauty in the world. SCP content has become so utterly predictable – and boring. These lovely escapes are so appreciated and refreshing – – and elevate your platform above the political fray. I had begun to write off SCP. You have no idea how my heart lit to find this poem. Thank you, rohini, for this tiny spark in the onslaught of drizzle.

    Reply
    • Rohini

      Deborah! Thank you for picking up on that. I try to find hope in everything. As I get on in years, I find it’s all I have.

      Reply
    • Margaret Coats

      Deborah, I hear you, and of course Evan is dependent on what kinds of poems we poets submit to him. Just to see how much beauty we’ve had recently, I clicked on “BEAUTY” in our “CATEGORIES” in the right-hand column. I was surprised that many of the “BEAUTY” posts don’t seem to me to belong to the category. Maybe we should have a “NATURE” or “NATURAL BEAUTY” category as well.

      Reply
    • Joshua C. Frank

      Thank you for writing off the rest of us as “drizzle.” If you don’t like our work, you don’t have to read it, but there’s no need to go public with your contempt.

      Whatever happened to people knowing the difference between what should be said and what should be kept to themselves?

      Reply
    • C.B. Anderson

      If you want to see more beauty of the natural world, Deb, then take a look outside your own goddamn window. Don’t expect someone else to re-create it for you. But thank you nonetheless for your own onslaught of pizzle.

      Reply
  10. Margaret Coats

    Rohini, this beautiful villanelle looks simple, but has several subtle poetic ornaments. Your repeating lines are independent, yet they form a coherent couplet (the basics of a good villanelle). What’s very effective is to take encouraging statements that could be addressed to a person, and apply them to the gazelle facing extinction. Thus readers can enjoy the desert drama and easily apply it to human life in a symbolic way. You made a bold choice to have “life” as a single rhyme word for the non-refrain lines, but you have much to say about plant, animal, and human life, with a real or symbolic desert as background, so the choice works well. With “life” further contained in one refrain, and “light” in both, you’ve created a bright and vivid poem.

    Reply
      • Monika Cooper

        That’s wonderful: tapping into the deeper voice that counsels you.

  12. Yael

    The picture of the beautiful gazelle is really awesome and I like how the poem works on a literal as well as an allegorical level of meaning. It’s very well done, thank you.

    Reply
    • Rohini

      Thanks so much. I agree the photograph of the gazelle is beautiful and filled with light. A wonderful reflection of the line, “You must believe the light will carry you.”

      Reply
    • Margaret Coats

      Erik probably means Corpoetry–Desert Flower, as that is the title in your bio here. It reflects the grace you manifest here and in your blog, Rohini. There are things the flower ignores and the body must flee like a gazelle, but in your domain, even these unbeautiful things manifest tribute.

      Reply
  14. Susan Jarvis Bryant

    Rohini, I love the villanelle form – the use of repetition is great for relaying a poetic message. The images you conjure are beautiful. I particularly like this repeating line of hope: “You must believe the light will carry you” – essential if joy is to thrive in a world that is often as far from joy as one could imagine. The symbolic gazelle is a wonderful touch.

    Reply
    • Rohini

      Thank you for your comment. It gives me even more insights into this wonderful form that I am, at the moment, experimenting with.

      Reply
  15. Paul A. Freeman

    Nicely done, Rohini.

    I’ve lived in and around the Empty Quarter, so this brought back memories.

    Thanks for the read.

    Reply
    • Rohini

      Thank you. I didn’t live there but I’ve done some copywriting for Saudi clients and recently for Aramco where i learnt about the establishment of the wildlife habitat.

      Reply

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