Mughal Lovers

I sometimes write songs, and this one is from a proposed EP being put together by some wonderfully talented friends of mine. The collection of songs for the EP has a very chilled vibe, somewhat post-punk, and my topics are offbeat. This song, Mughal Lovers, is based on a beautiful Mughal Indian miniature, the original of which hangs in the Museum Rietberg in Zurich. It was painted in Himachal Pradesh in about 1780-1790 in watercolour and gold on paper. In the song, I compare the painting's martial alarm with the pastoral peace of a Hindu watercolour from the same time and place, of Radha and Krishna in a forest glade, painted about 1775. Though the music has yet to be decided on, in my mind's ear, it is a stoner-doom track ;)

Mughal Lovers
© Michael Schmidt 2016

Mughal
lovers 
on the verandah
They turn
at the
sound of thunder
Lightning
rips the 
fabric of the air

His musicians play on
murali, tambura
and pakhavaj
while six white birds 
like hooked crosses
flee the threatening sky
a lone white bird
flies instead to the west 

Clutching 
his hand 
yet she is unafraid
Bring me
my sword!
Orange-robed 
woman complies
Green hills 
succumb to darkness

In a
forest
Krishna and Radha
frolic on 
a bed of leaves
His Sahasrāra 
spouts golden filaments
his blue right hand
deep in her yoni

Mughal
lovers 
trapped in wonder
They turn
at the
sound of thunder
Lightning
rips the 
fabric of the air
He must go off to war
but Krishna and Radha
are rolling on the floor

Mughal 
lovers
Mughal
lovers
Mughal
lovers
huh!

[ENDS]