Ghazal from Qatar

Formality in verse might not please Sabrina.
The eye rejoices whenever it sees Sabrina.


The skies of Amherst are thick with snow-clouds.
Behold, a poetaster on his knees, Sabrina!


It is 1990 and I am twenty-one.
I drink large draughts of wine to the lees, Sabrina.


You like Public Enemy, I like the Cocteau Twins.
I love your voice, a soothing breeze, Sabrina.


My love is a fever, a mania, a spell ...
A happy madness, a healthy disease, Sabrina.


You are my sovereign queen, but please don't say
Anything nice about the New York Yankees, Sabrina.


You are springtime in December, gentle warmth
Giving life to the shyest leaves of trees, Sabrina.


I love you in your fierce disconsolacy,
In the righteous wrath that I cannot appease, Sabrina.


Dylan the doltish worships you from afar
With your jet-black hair and torn dungarees, Sabrina.