Mheagan F. Japitana

  Soft darkness wraps around me tight, A velvet shroud of peaceful night. The stars above, like diamonds bright, Twinkle and whisper through the light. The moon , a gentle guide, shines down, Illuminating paths I've yet to find. The world is hushed, a quiet sea , Where worries fade, and peace comes to me. In this stillness, I find my way, Through shadows cast by night's soft sway. The night's dark beauty soothes my soul, And in its calm, I make myself whole.

The poem Taj Mahal, translated by Mustansir Dalvi, is a reflective and critical exploration of love, memory, and the power structures embedded in cultural monuments. Addressed intimately to the speaker’s beloved, it opens with an acknowledgment of the Taj Mahal’s reputation as the "quintessence of ardour" a global symbol of eternal love. Yet, in the very next breath, the speaker invites the beloved to meet “some place else.” This refrain, which frames both the beginning and end of the poem, immediately signals that the writer does not wish their love to be associated with the grandeur and historical baggage of the monument. While recognizing its aesthetic beauty, the speaker questions the values it represents and the silenced histories it conceals. The Taj Mahal, often romanticized, is here stripped of its mythic purity and placed in a harsher historical light. The writer calls it one of the “edifices” and “tombs” that are “relics of the conceit of emperors,” emphasizing that...