Mar 9, 2016 The Daily Post
In response to The Daily Post’s Daily Prompt: Contrast
Sun in a Universe Blacker than Night
©March 9th, 2016
By Vijaya Sundaram
The night presses so blackly
Against my cold window-pane,
That the absurd orange of
Fake cloth flowers holds it back.
Night staggers away, singing –
A drunk in delirium.
I am not fazed. I sit and
Sing my song to solitude.
All around me press the ghosts
Of those past, and those to come.
I greet them and leave them be.
I have work to do right now.
Faraway ambulance wails.
Who goes where at 2:00 a.m.?
– Life so tenuous, like glass
Blown by a drunken artist!
I sit here calmly, knowing
As sure as the sun will rise
That I shall live, and live long.
This is not dumb arrogance.
Somewhere, dawn breaks over hills
Here, though, I fight the night with
Borrowed light, and invite sleep,
Comfort and warmth in silence.
Such foolishness to presume
That such things will always exist!
And yet, what do I gain by
Speculating on disaster?
Somewhere, people fight and die
Somewhere, people starve and die
Somewhere else, women give birth
Till the fields, harvest the wheat.
And it hurts me, every day –
The wounds of all who live, and
The terrors of all who die.
Still, I dream, and sing my song.
And the earth keeps spinning on,
Blue marble seeking her boy.
Her Sun keeping watch in a
Universe blacker than night.
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Tags: #Daily Prompt, #Original Poetry, Comfort and Solitude, Life and Death, Speculating, Sun and Space
Dec 18, 2015 Uncategorized
Bound for Canaan
©December 18th, 2015
By Vijaya Sundaram
Hello! Goodbye! in one breath,
We come into our birth and death,
We fly in and out,
Our cries are a shout,
Huddling together, we sisters and brothers
Seeking some warmth and love from each other,
Seeking a word or even a sign
That who we are is totally fine,
We gather our fruits
And look for our roots.
Upside down, our
Visions abound.
We see with our ears —
We shed a few tears,
We hear with our eyes —
Our breath is a sigh.
We taste with our nose —
And cling with our toes.
Then, before the gilding dawn,
We know it’s time to move along.
So, one by one, we take off in flight,
Finding our way to infinite night.
Was it just a hazy dream?
We ask, as we float on upstream.
But the stars guide our ears,
And our wings help us steer,
And something pulls us up and on.
It’s time to go, and be unborn.
The thorn goes in, the rose grows red,
And though your hearts be filled with dread,
Do not mourn, and do not grieve,
It’s only right for us to leave.
And so, my friends it’s time I went,
The dark star calls, where light is bent.
And so, goodbye, my lovely friends
We’ve found some life, and now it ends.
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P.S. Feeling philosophical, not gloomy.
P.P.S. Also, it’s just a response to a prompt. Do not worry! 🙂
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Tags: #Original Poetry, #Writing 101, Poetry, Bats!, Bound for Canaan, Day 10, Farewell, Life and Death, Reference to The Nightingale and the Rose by Oscar Wilde
Apr 7, 2014 Uncategorized
Exhortation
(OR Who the Hell Knows What This Is About?!)
©April 7, 2014
By Vijaya Sundaram
Force the wo-
rds
Cor-
ral them, he-
rd them
Cro
wd them, ha-
rass them
Cow them into sub-
Put them on the boat
That awaits all words.
Yes!
(Poetry thrives on this –
The fear of silence.
Prose does, too.
Except that it has
So much more space,
So much more leeway.
So much wind blowing
Madly through chapters,
Stirring our consciences,
Making us stammer out
Confessions.)
And, like a silken thread
Running palely blue and gold
Between words and worlds,
Silence glows,
A Presence
Waiting to be glimpsed,
An Absence
For whom we yearn.
Death can wait.
Death knows how.
Death lies low
Waiting to spring
From the shadowy recesses,
Near where Charon waits.
And Life turns
Her head, as she flees
The Silence,
While the words
Become a ghost,
Wailing for her
Orpheus, us.
And all around us,
Roll her echoes,
As we climb, sobbing
Into the light.
Tags: #NaPoWriMo, #Original Poetry, #Orpheus, Charon, Escape from Hades, Life and Death, Sound and Silence