Sacred Rain

Sacred Rain is the fourth collection of poems published by Ghulam-Sarwar Yousof. It contains some of his recent work. Like his previous collections, the poems in Sacred Rain deal with a selected number of themes. Essentially, they are about the self and the relationships of the self with the multi-dimensional world and, more particularly, with higher realities. In this sense then, Ghulam-Sarwar Yousof, through a Malaysian writing in the English language, transcends narrow everyday concerns and, although presenting in them his own reflections about the self, attains a certain universality. His poems have broader appeal beyond narrow boundaries of relationship, nationality, race, or even the concerns of the physical world. The poems are intellectual as well as mystical. This uniqueness comes through the manner in which the poet exploits the potential of words and images, in keeping with his style as seen in his previous collections. His images come from a wide range of cultural traditions, as seen from the poems entitled "Hamlet" and "Tiresias Waiting", seminal characters in Western literature seen from a new perspective. His familiarity with Eastern traditions comes through the example of "Mirza Ghalib's Lament", the title character being the most important of Indo-Muslim poets. This work is an important addition to Ghulam-Sarwar Yousof's previous published work in the form of poetry, drama and short fiction.