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Vijaya Sundaram was the Poet Laureate of Medford, MA (2023-2025).  Her first collection of poems, titled Fractured Lens, was published in August 2023 by Červená Barva Press.  She is also a singer-songwriter, guitarist, and sitarist. In her capacity as full-time English faculty, she teaches college writing, poetry, literature, and American Culture in the English Dept. at Bunker Hill Community College

Where the Moon Rises …
©️December 19th, 2023

Vijaya Sundaram

Where the moon rises in a land I’ve made,

Amidst fields of ferns and flame-like flowers,

Midst black trees and green skies

Silvered streams and purpled mist,

There shall I go and swoon

In the hearts of ruby-red poppies.

Oblivion will shed sweet slumber

On eyelids awash in silver and white

And of the world’s blood, not a speck

Will remain. And the numberless dead

Will walk my way, and find peace here.

Where the world finds rest from

Empty hate, and endless grief,

There shall I go, and lie

And lay my head

On a pillow of blue and green

And dream my life away.

This is my place.

But should you stumble into this world,

Step in with moonlit feet, with

Breath so hushed, the green won’t stir;

You will be welcome. You may lie

On the other side of that moon,

And not say a word to me,

Seek your own dream, your own slumber.

I shall not mind if you find yourself

In this secret, sacred space.

I will sense you, and smile,

Dreaming of clouds and childhood

Under streaming sunshine

On mango leaves, in a rain-damp land,

Saturated in sound and light.

This is what I will see,

And this is where I shall be

When the moon rises in this land I’ve made

Where shadows shift like people

Through greenlit glades

And people shift among shadows

Unseen, delayed before dissolving,

To sleep one last time in beauty.

(In this land you’ll be welcome,

But soft! Step in with love,

Step in, absolving your Self,

Forgiving the other world, as you

Gaze around you with clean eyes,

Drunk with delight at simple things.

You’ll be welcome in this world,

If you step in on moonlit feet.

And I will shift in my slumber

Smile, and dream another world

For another day, another life.

— Vijaya Sundaram

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