NEITHER THE SUN NOR THE MOON

The moment of wakefulness before the sleep begins;

A plain of the sun where no shadow falls,

A plain of the moon where nothing filters

The light of the celestial beings.

Something slips out of hands.

A solitary bird watches and does not speak.

The branch gives way;

The fear recedes;

A welcome spring

Is waiting to receive.

The remnants fall without being seen

With nothing to hold, nothing to let go,

And nothing to happen in between.

A lull, a silence, a primordial sleep,

An occurrence that signals nothing,

An overpowering conquest begins.

Nothing can obstruct the invasion of sleep.

The mind a ceaseless ground of constructs and fall,

The heart, the timorous companion that hides and seeks,

The memory, a witness to the imprints of history’s timeless footprints;

They are all billowing waves, left behind,

And that is the dawn when no sun rises,  no moon shines.

July 25, 2015
(c) Sushama Karnik