I'm curious to try out poetic form called doha. It is Hindi in origin and a self-contained (rhyming?) couplet, traditionally spiritual or sensual in nature. Each line is 24 syllables w/ a caesura (break) in between the first 13 syllables and the last 11 syllables. I THINK there's no limit to number of couplets. Confused enough yet? I know I am, so I'd love to see what cleverness Prosers come up with. Let's call it a #loosedoha. Pixie points for anyone who can do a sortha (inverted doha).

Silent Killer

Sortha –

Her eyes sing the forbidden verse of love, unafraid of the piercing pain it causes to my heart.

Like drops of nectar crystal tears touch the ground, cruelly taking away my soul in ten thousand pieces.

The same as Doha:

Unafraid of the piercing pain it causes to my heart, her eyes sing the forbidden verse of love.

Cruelly taking away my soul in ten thousand pieces, like drops of nectar crystal tears touch the ground.

A beautiful and thoughtful challenge by PhynneBelle. Most of the Hindu scriptures and many Urdu poems are in the form of Dohas, Chaupais (Quatrains), Chhand, Sorthas which are all parts of the Matrika metre (a poetic metre). The Veds, Ramcharitmanas and couplets by Surdas, Kabir and Rahim are mostly in metric forms.

Dohas by Kabir and Rahim are more recent and even used in common language today.

One such Doha by Kabir is :

Kabir Says:

Nindak nihare rakhiye, aangan kuti chhaway

Bin pani bin sabun, nirmal kare subhav

निंदक नियरे राखिये, आँगन कुटी छवाय |

बिन पानी बिन साबुन, निर्मल करे सुभाव ||

MEANING

Keep your critic close, you get to know your faults if someone criticizes you, and you have a chance to correct them. Give your critics shelter in your courtyard and listen to the criticism without annoyance, because critic is not your enemy, he is helping you to clean the rubbish from your life without soap and water.